The People's Record

Wisconsin shooter ID’d as white supremacist veteran
August 6, 2012

Authorities identified Wade Michael Page as the suspected gunman who launched a shooting rampage at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee on Sunday, leaving six people dead and three others critically wounded in what police are calling an act of domestic terrorism. Wade was killed outside the temple in a shootout with police officers.

Officials had previously described the suspect as a heavy-set, 40-year-old Caucasian with numerous tattoos. No further details of a possible motive were provided nor suggested, including whether he specifically targeted the Sikh temple.

“He did not speak, he just began shooting,” said Harpreet Singh, relaying a description of the attack from the wife of his uncle, temple president Satwant Singh Kaleka.

As worshippers prayed and meditated at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin on Sunday morning, about a dozen women were preparing food in the temple kitchen for a meal after services which are open to community members, regardless of religious affiliation.

Singh said Satpal Kaleka told him she was in the front room when the shooter walked in. She said the 6-foot-tall bald white man — who worshippers said they had never before seen at the temple — seemed like he had a purpose and knew where he was going.

“We never thought this could happen to our community,” said Devendar Nagra, 48, whose sister escaped injury by hiding as the gunman fired in the temple’s kitchen. “We never did anything wrong to anyone.”

Police, federal agents and the county sheriff’s bomb squad swarmed a neighborhood late Sunday in nearby Cudahy, evacuating several homes and searched a duplex with warrants served at the gunman’s home.

Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards said police expected to release more information Monday. He said the FBI will lead the investigation because the shootings are being treated as domestic terrorism, an attack that originated inside the U.S.

Source
Photo