Killing Ends 10-Hour Siege At Monument

WASHINGTON--A man threatened to blow up the Washington Monument with a truckload of dynamite yesterday, demanding "a national dialogue on the nuclear weapons question." After 10 hours, police killed him in a rain of gunfire when he attempted to drive off in the direction of the White House.

Police said he may have had an accomplice who ran into the monument during the chaotic scene Officers searched the building for three and a half hours after flooding it with tear gas but did not find anyone inside.

Police opened fire at 7:35 p.m. but could not remove the body from the scene until 9 p.m. Although he had claimed to have 1000 pounds of dynamite and automatic detonating devices in his van, police reported that his day-long threat had been a bluff.

During the ordeal, nine people were trap- ped inside the monument for a time, huge government buildings were evacuated and officials worried about the safety of the White House, only six blocks away

A reporter was sent, at the man's request, to receive demands printed in a leaflet

A large van that purportedly contained the explosives and was driven to the door of the monument at 9:20 a.m.

A legend painted on the van said "No I Priority Ban Nuclear Weapons."

Police identified the man as Norman Mayer, age 66, of Miami Beach, Fla.

Mayer had a long police record involving political incidents. He had spent the last several months living in a Washington hotel and demonstrating regularly in front of the White House

"Mr Mayer has a past from all over the country, including arrests for prowling, assault and battery, narcotics trafficking, trespassing after warning, and distributing religious material," said a Miami police officer.

Explosives experts said if 1000 pounds of dynamite were detonated around the monument only moderate structural damage would result However, hundreds of pieces of shrapnel could be thrown up to 1800 feet and the blast would be strong enough to break windows in the White House 2000 feet away.

Scores of tourists managed to get out when the siege started. Nearby government buildings were evacuated; thousands of employees were sent home. Since the White House was in shrapnel range, President Reagan stayed on the side facing away, toward Pennsylvania Avenue.

"It's up to the press, it's up to the media," the man had said during the afternoon. "They have been pretending that we are not threatened every day of our lives with annihilation And whether by collusion or otherwise they refuse to give the real information about the precarious situation the world finds itself in.