US Sikh temple shooter was a white supremacist
Source: Agencies |
August 7, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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THE gunman who killed six people inside a Sikh temple in the United States and was killed in a police shootout was a 40-year-old Army veteran, officials said yesterday, and a civil rights group identified him as a "frustrated neo-Nazi" who led a white supremacist band.
Police called Sunday's attack an act of domestic terrorism. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said there was no reason to think anyone else was involved in the attack, and they were not aware of any past threat made against the temple.
The shooter was Wade Michael Page, said First Assistant US Attorney Greg Haanstad in Milwaukee. Page joined the Army in 1992 and was discharged in 1998, a defense official said.
Officials and witnesses said the gunman walked into the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek and opened fire as several dozen people prepared for Sunday morning services. Six were killed, and three were critically wounded. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the gunman used a legally purchased 9mm handgun.
Page was a "frustrated neo-Nazi" who led a racist white supremacist band, the Southern Poverty Law Center said yesterday. Page told a white supremacist website in 2010 that he had been part of the white power music scene since 2000, when he left his native Colorado and started the band, End Apathy, in 2005, the civil rights organization said.
Page joined the military in 1992 and was a repairman for the Hawk missile system before switching jobs to become one of the Army's psychological operations specialists, according to the defense official.
Joseph Rackley of North Carolina said that Page lived with his son for about six months last year in a house on Rackley's property. Wade was bald and had tattoos all over his arms, Rackley said.
Witnesses to Sunday's shooting said the gunman looked like he had a purpose and knew where he was going.
Satpal Kaleka, wife of the temple's president, Satwant Singh Kaleka, saw the gunman enter, according to Harpreet Singh, their nephew.
"He did not speak, he just began shooting," said Singh, relaying her description.
Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards said the gunman "ambushed" one of the first officers to arrive at the temple as the officer tended to a victim outside, shooting him eight to nine times with a handgun at close range. A second officer then exchanged gunfire with the suspect, who was fatally shot.
The wounded officer was in critical condition along with two other victims yesterday.
Police called Sunday's attack an act of domestic terrorism. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said there was no reason to think anyone else was involved in the attack, and they were not aware of any past threat made against the temple.
The shooter was Wade Michael Page, said First Assistant US Attorney Greg Haanstad in Milwaukee. Page joined the Army in 1992 and was discharged in 1998, a defense official said.
Officials and witnesses said the gunman walked into the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek and opened fire as several dozen people prepared for Sunday morning services. Six were killed, and three were critically wounded. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the gunman used a legally purchased 9mm handgun.
Page was a "frustrated neo-Nazi" who led a racist white supremacist band, the Southern Poverty Law Center said yesterday. Page told a white supremacist website in 2010 that he had been part of the white power music scene since 2000, when he left his native Colorado and started the band, End Apathy, in 2005, the civil rights organization said.
Page joined the military in 1992 and was a repairman for the Hawk missile system before switching jobs to become one of the Army's psychological operations specialists, according to the defense official.
Joseph Rackley of North Carolina said that Page lived with his son for about six months last year in a house on Rackley's property. Wade was bald and had tattoos all over his arms, Rackley said.
Witnesses to Sunday's shooting said the gunman looked like he had a purpose and knew where he was going.
Satpal Kaleka, wife of the temple's president, Satwant Singh Kaleka, saw the gunman enter, according to Harpreet Singh, their nephew.
"He did not speak, he just began shooting," said Singh, relaying her description.
Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards said the gunman "ambushed" one of the first officers to arrive at the temple as the officer tended to a victim outside, shooting him eight to nine times with a handgun at close range. A second officer then exchanged gunfire with the suspect, who was fatally shot.
The wounded officer was in critical condition along with two other victims yesterday.
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