Today's Most Popular Video
Jun 12, 2009 11:05 pm US/Central
Students At Museum During Shooting Return To Minn.
ROBBINSDALE, Minn. (WCCO) ―
-
-
"The scariest part about it is knowing that the man who was killed was actually the one who checked us through the security checkpoint," said student Kristian Evans. (victim Stephen Johns pictured)
Handout/AP
-
-
James von Brunn, the alleged gunman who fatally shot a security guard inside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. on June 9, 2009, is seen in this undated image from Talbot County (Maryland) Sheriff's Office.
AP
Visitors were allowed inside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Friday for the first time since a security guard was shot and killed there. Police said 88-year-old white supremacist James von Brunn shot the guard on Wednesday before being shot in the face by other guards.
He was in critical condition Friday.
Thirty-nine-year-old Stephen Johns was the guard who died. He had worked at the museum for the past six years.
Thirty-nine Robbinsdale Public Schools students were in the Holocaust Memorial Museum when the shooting happened. They know they experienced history as it happened, but they're sad that a man they encountered was killed.
"It seems pretty cool but it's not because somebody ended up dying," said Robbinsdale student Justin Prince.
When the Robbinsdale students returned to Minnesota Friday evening, they had quite a story to tell about touring the sights in Washington D.C. and being in the Holocaust Memorial Museum on a day that will be in their history books.
On Wednesday around noon, they had started touring the museum in groups on the second and third floors when the shooting happened on the first floor in the main entrance. They didn't hear or see it happen, and followed instructions to evacuate.
"I'm very proud of how they followed directions, they understand how to evacuate a building, we do drills at school, they handled it exactly as we would hope they would," said trip leader Shelly Phernetton.
"We really just wanted to make sure that they were able to still enjoy their trip and talk about it as they needed to, so we checked in with students, 'how's everybody feeling,' we made sure to call parents and let them know that kids were safe and they fine and that we were continuing on with our trip," said trip chaperone Natalie Larson.
"The scariest part about it is knowing that the man who was killed was actually the one who checked us through the security checkpoint, and that was weird. And none of us really knew who was killed until we watched the news later at dinner and we saw the man and we all were very shocked and surprised to know that he was the one who was killed and we had known him if only for a brief moment," said student Robbinsdale student Kristian Evans.
The group emphasized that although this was a memorable incident, it was a very small part of their field trip. They visited many different sights in the D.C. area.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Letters To Santa Sent To Sex Offender?
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
