How else to explain one man's decision to walk into a museum -- the Holocaust Museum in Washington -- and open fire with some type of long gun (it isn't clear yet exactly what kind)?
One thing's for sure, the man accused of doing it - and killing a security guard (CLICK HERE TO SEE WHO HE WAS)- has a long history of hate and anger and venom that he's never been shy of spewing about blacks and Jews.
James Von Brunn is 88 years old and, according to his website, a Navy veteran who fought in World War II.
He is a felon - convicted of pulling out a sawed-off shotgun at the Federal Reserve in Washington, and warning people he had planted a bomb.
He served more than six years in federal prison.
His version, on his website, takes a different approach to the event. He said he tried to place the "treasonous" Federal Reserve under citizen's arrest. He was, he said, tried in a Washington court, "convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison.... by a Jew judge. A Jew/Negro/White Court of Appeals" denied an appeal.
What kind of person carries this kind of hate?
Tonight at 11, we're learning more about the suspect - who was shot by guards at the museum. He apparently has a long history as a raving racist and anti-Semite. And tonight, the Washington Post's reporting that authorities, using bomb-sniffing dogs, are looking at 100 "targets" listed in a notebook found with Von Brunn. He was also a member, briefly, of Mensa, the high IQ organization. And he apparently spend two decades here in New York as a film producer and ad executive.
And we're also looking at the sudden increase in security at the Holocaust Museum in Lower Manhattan.
We're also following the latest political chaos in New York's state government. Who's in charge here? And do New Yorkers really want any of these people in control of their wallets and children's education and laws about what can or can't be done in the privacy of one's own home?
It's a valid question these days, as the lack of leadership in Albany, and the sometimes downright childish behavior, continue to play out in a most public forum. Our political reporter Dave Evans is in the capital for us tonight.
And the decision is apparently in from the Brazil Supreme Court -- David Goldman from New Jersey can regain custody of his son - whom his ex-wife, now deceased, took to Brazil several years ago. But the 9-year-old boy's return to New Jersey is still not certain.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Lee Goldberg's AccuWeather forecast (and CLICK HERE to see Lee's blog), and Scott Clark with the night's sports. I hope you can join Sade Baderinwa (in for Liz Cho) and me, tonight at 11.
BILL RITTER