Seven dead in shooting at Wisconsin Sikh temple

August 05, 2012 10:35 PM By Brendan O'Brien OAK CREEK, Wisc.: A shooting during Sunday services at a Sikh temple left at least seven people dead, including a gunman, and at least three critically wounded, police and hospital officials said. Four people were shot inside the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in suburban Milwaukee and three outside, including a gunman killed by a police officer, said Greenfield Police Chief Bradley Wentlandt. "This is the best information we have, and this information may change," he told reporters outside the temple. Smiran Kaleka, the niece of one of the wounded men, said an unknown number of gunmen walked into the kitchen of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek about 10:30 a.m. CDT (1530 GMT) and started shooting. She said her mother had told her the shooters were white men. Nalissa Wienke, a spokeswoman for Froedtert & Medical College Hospital, said three men had been brought in wounded and were in critical condition. One was in the operating room, she said. The 20-year veteran officer who exchanged fire with the gunman was hit several times, Wentlandt said. He was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive. Witnesses said hostages were being held inside the temple but police did not confirm this. A man who said his father had been wounded in the incident reported that there had been multiple shooters of Caucasian descent, quoting people inside the temple. "It was a very coordinated thing," the man, identified as Amardeep Kaleka, told police. Police, ambulances and firefighters from Oak Creek and other localities were on the scene at the temple. "How sick do you have to be to walk into a church and shoot it up?" said Smiran Kaleka. Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/International/2012/Aug-05/183503-seven-dead-in-shooting-at-wisconsin-sikh-temple.ashx#ixzz22hn7wQoI (The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb) === US army vet identified as temple shooter Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:22:56 GMT The suspect in the Sikh temple shooting who killed six people in the US State of Wisconsin has been identified as a former US Army soldier with reported links to the white supremacist movement. Wade Michael Page, who was also killed in a shootout with cops, opened fire at a Sikh temple in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek in Wisconsin, where members were gathering for mediation on Sunday. Reportedly the 40-year-old was also the leader of a white supremacist band called End Apathy. In a 2010 interview, Page told a white supremacist website that he became active in white-power music in 2000. Michael Page, of South Milwaukee, was "a frustrated neo-Nazi who had been the leader of a racist white-power band," the Southern Poverty Law Center said on Monday. The center, which has a database of more than 20,000 people it has identified as white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other members of hate groups, said Page has been on its radar since 2000. Page also posted frequent comments on Internet forums for skinheads, repeatedly exhorting members to act more decisively to support their cause. "Stop hiding behind the computer or making excuses," he wrote last year. The bald, heavily tattooed suspect served in the US Army from 1992 to 1998 as a repairman for the Hawk missile system before switching jobs to train as a psychological warfare specialist. He was demoted and discharged for misconduct. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, as many as 30 people were shot by Page, including the president of the temple, Satwant Kaleka. Sikh rights groups have reported a rise in bias attacks since the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Washington-based Sikh Coalition has reported more than 700 incidents in the US since 9/11. On Monday, hundreds of angry Sikh protesters gathered in the Indian capital New Delhi as well as in the northern city of Jammu, shouting slogans and carrying placards that read, “Ban open sale of weapons in USA.” and “Shame, Shame, Shame.” There are approximately 500,000 Sikhs in the US. ============