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NYPD Ups Security After Holocaust Museum Shooting

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Jun 11, 2009 9:50 am US/Eastern

NYPD Ups Security After Holocaust Museum Shooting

NEW YORK (CBS) ― The NYPD increased security around nearly 60 Jewish sites around the City following the fatal shooting of a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington.

Within minutes after the shooting, uniformed officers took positions outside the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City.

Authorities were concerned about possible copycat attacks in the Big Apple.

Witnesses to the Washington attack described the frightening scene.

"It was boom, boom, very fast," said museum visitor Brenda Sapp.

"People started yelling, hit the floor," said David Unruh, another visitor.

The gunman, 88-yr-old James Whittaker von Brunn, whose hate laced website spouted his white supremacist views, just walked in the main entrance and opened fire, shooting and killing 39-year-old security guard Stephen Johns.

Von Brunn was himself shot when guards returned fire. He fell just outside the front doors.

As shown in a cell phone photo, his red car was double parked outside as if he intended a quick escape.

Museum visitors said they owed their lives to Johns and his fellow guards.

"We were scared, shaking," said visitor Maria Hernandez.

"Never take your guard for granted," said Bill Parsons, Museum Chief of Staff.

Several hundred miles away in New York, that sentiment echoed, as airport level security, bomb sniffing dogs and uniformed cops endeavor to prevent anything similar at the Jewish Museum in New York.

"The incident in Washington, ignorance dominates," said David Norwell of the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

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