A Suspect's Long History of Hate, and Signs of Strain

"We absolutely detested his beliefs," she said. "I am disheartened the young guard was killed."

She said von Brunn once predicted that he would "go out with his boots on."

On Dec. 7, 1981, he walked into the Federal Reserve headquarters on Constitution Avenue NW with a handgun and threatened to take members of the Board of Governors, including then-Chairman Paul A. Volcker, hostage.

Police said he had an 11-page document, which he characterized as an exposé of an "international bankers' conspiracy to rule all nations from one central seat of government." Court records said he intended to place them under citizens arrest and charge them with treason.

At his trial, von Brunn said that his goal was to "deport all Jews and blacks from the white nations" and that statistics on IQs of black and white Americans "proved that there is one race that is better than another." He also testified that "Jews were the greatest liars that have ever afflicted mankind."

He was convicted of armed kidnapping, among other charges, and sentenced to a minimum of nearly four years up to a maximum of 11 years and three months at the Ray Brook federal prison in Upstate New York. The court also requested a psychological evaluation for Brunn while in prison.

After his release, von Brunn joined Mensa, the society for top scorers on intelligence tests. A Mensa official said von Brunn was dropped from membership for failure to pay dues.

De Nugent called von Brunn a genius but described the shooting as the act of "a loner and a hothead."

"The responsible white separatist community condemns this," he said. "It makes us look bad."