Senate pauses Thurs. to mourn Holocaust museum guard slain in ‘horrifying tragedy’
By APThursday, June 11, 2009
Senate pauses to mourn slain museum guard
WASHINGTON — The Senate has opened its session with a tribute to the Holocaust Museum guard slain at his post by a gunman. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called it a “terrible and horrifying tragedy.”
Reid said Thursday that museum guard Stephen T. Johns “was a victim of violence and hatred in a place dedicated to teaching us the evils of violence and hatred.”
Authorities said Johns was shot after he held the door open for the lone shooter at the Washington museum on Wednesday. Johns died of his injuries later in the day.
Reid said the attack shocked and angered the Senate, the nation, and “all who detest this senseless bloodshed.”
The shooting suspect, a white supremacist, was shot by guards and remained hospitalized on Thursday.
