WASHINGTON - The man charged with murdering an armed security guard at the Holocaust Museum believed he was defending the "Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic," according to charging documents released Thursday.

James von Brunn, 88, identified those enemies as "Jews - Bolsheviks - Zionist" [sic] in a signed note found in his car, the FBI (web) said.

"You want my weapons - this is how you'll get them," von Brunn wrote, according to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Ronald Farnsworth. "JVB swore (LT USNR) to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Jews - Bolsheviks - Zionist are America's enemies."

» read the documents

The charging documents released Thursday revealed new details about the lone gunman who stormed the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum Wednesday afternoon.

Von Brunn, 88, is charged with first-degree murder and killing while in possession of a firearm at a federal facility.

According to investigators, von Brunn double-parked his red Hyundai in the 100 block of Raoul Wallenberg Place and walked up to entrance, where Special Police Officer Stephen T Johns opened the door for him.

Von Brunn, a known white supremacist, raised a .22 caliber rifle at Johns' chest and fired once, striking the security guard in the chest, according to charging documents.

"Stephen opened that door for the elderly man that was coming in," said Bill Parsons, the museum's chief off staff. "He was caring for him and he was shot."

"There were thousands of people inside the Holocaust Museum and one life lost is a tragedy -- but this could've been much worse," added D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty.

The gunman kept walking, raising his rifle again as if to fire, authorities said. Two other security guards opened fire on von Brunn, striking him once in the face, the documents said.

Both von Brunn and Johns were rushed to George Washington University Hospital, where Johns was pronounced dead two hours later. Von Brunn remains in critical condition, Mayor Adrian Fenty said.

"There is no shortage of hate in the world," Parsons said. "But when it happens to you -- your family, your workplace, your colleagues -- it gets very painful."

People like Katie Brand, a former museum employee, also paused to remember the fallen security guard.

"It just hit me to the core so I felt we needed to come down here and bring my son and lay some flowers in remembrance of him," she said.

Authorities also searched the Annapolis apartment von Brunn shared with his son and his son's fiance. Investigators say they recovered another rifle, ammunition and other writings.

Sources tell ABC 7 that von Brunn had been Washington since Monday, staying at a Georgetown hotel before the shooting, and on Monday visited the National Cathedral for an hour.

ABC 7 News has learned from sources that von Brunn got a room at the Holiday Inn in Georgetown on Monday, using his credit card. That same day, ABC 7 confirmed, von Brunn drove to the National Cathedral, one of the numerous locations written on paperwork police later found in his car. Von Brunn parked, walked onto the cathedral's grounds and then left. The next day, sources say, he got a room at the Marriott Wardman Park, again using his credit card.

"We know what Mr. Von Brunn did yesterday at the Holocaust Museum ... now it is our responsibility to determine why he did it," said Joseph Persichini Jr., the FBI's Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office. "If you have had conversations with him or interacted with him .. we need you to contact us as soon as possible." 

The FBI said it is investigating whether von Brunn could also be charged with civil rights and hate crime violations.

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