The security guard at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, who was killed on Wednesday by a lone gunman, has been identified as Stephen Tyrone Johns, CNN reported, citing a statement from the museum.

The gunman entered the museum at 12:50 p.m. with a rifle and immediately shot a museum security guard, said Chief Cathy Lanier of the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department. Two other security guards returned fire, wounding the gunman, she said.

Both the gunman and a security guard were taken to George Washington University Hospital, where the gunman was in "critical" condition, said D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty.

Neither Lanier nor Fenty would identify the gunman.

The museum released a statement saying Johns died "heroically in the line of duty."

"There are no words to express our grief and shock over these events. He served on the Museum's security staff for six years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Johns' family," the statement said. "We have made the decision to close the Museum tomorrow in honor of Officer Johns, and our flags will be flown at half mast in his memory."

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