Holocaust Museum Shooting: Illinois Holocaust Museum Expresses Shock, Adding Security In Response

SKOKIE, Ill. (AP) -- Officials at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center say they're "shocked and saddened" to hear an elderly gunman opened fire inside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, killing a security guard.

Executive Director Richard Hirschhaut (HER'-shout) says the Illinois museum's officials are working closely with the Skokie Police Department and other law enforcement agencies.

He says they're ensuring a heightened level of security in and around the Skokie facility.

The 65,000 square-foot museum opened in April. It's the largest of its kind in the Midwest and features 2,000 survivor testimonies, most of them from Skokie area residents.

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On the Net:

Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center: http://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org

-ASSOCIATED PRESS

The full statement from the museum:

The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is shocked and saddened to learn of the tragic shooting earlier today at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family of the security guard killed in this senseless attack.

The constant safety of Museum patrons is always the top priority of the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. To ensure the safety of all our visitors, the Museum was built with a state of the art security system, which was developed in consultation with experts in the security field and with the support of the United States Department of Homeland Security.

In response to this tragedy, the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is working closely with the Skokie Police Department and other law enforcement agencies to ensure a heightened level of security in and around the facility.

Comments

[Bronxdude]

In their deluded quest to concoct reality, foment paranoia, instigate discord and kowtow to their radical base, while masquerading as journalists, closet racist and morally corrupt hate mongers O’Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, Gingrich, and Beck are seeking to deliberately ignite a race war, pitting American against American (unlike the 50s, however, the ensuing violence will be reciprocal). Using code words, Limbaugh and Gingrich spew inflammatory rhetoric designed to agitate Christian fanatics, segregationists, supremacist ideologues, and conservative malcontents and then claim no complicity when these psychopaths commit evil acts of violence aimed at restoring America’s “traditional values,” which is code for reinstituting Jim Crow and other degenerate, misogynistic, and xenophobic policies associated with pre-1960s America. Limbaugh and Senator Shelby (Alabama: another bastion of low IQ bigots) continue to question President Obama’s nationality and then cry innocent when dim-witted, knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing republican misfits sully our President. O’Reilly led the ruthless, hate-filled campaign against Dr. George Tiller and then claimed no involvement when Tiller was murdered. O’Reilly is a culpable coward, and should be tried for murder. Gingrich longs for the “White Only” signs once so prevalent, and wants republicans (and deregulated big business) to remain in power at any cost, even if it means civil war. Cowardly, draft-dodging despots like Limbaugh and Hannity have no qualms about using military force to spread capitalism under the guise of democracy, as long as deferments can be selectively granted to those of acceptable persuasion (wink, wink).

[CherrySpring]

Skokie shouldn't worry, the gunman only killed a black guy. Ya know, someone who looks similar to the two black men who tried to open a bank account in their neighborhood.