Suspect Identified in Wisconsin Temple Shooting

Posted on Aug 6, 2012

AP/Jeffrey Phelps

Police walk near the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek after Sunday’s shooting.

The gunman who went on a shooting rampage at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., that left seven people dead and three wounded has been identified as Wade Michael Page, a veteran of the U.S. Army who was once given a less than honorable discharge.

Page, 40, was shot and killed by a police officer. The officer was shot eight or nine times in the exchange of gunfire. “The officer stopped a tragic event that could’ve been a lot worse,” Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards said.

ABC News:

Edwards said 911 calls began pouring into the police department around 10:25 a.m.

The first police officer to respond to the scene, a 20-year veteran on the police force, exchanged gunfire with the suspect and sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He underwent surgery at Froedtert Hospital, the main trauma center in the Milwaukee region, along with two other injured victims.

... Police tactical teams spent more than four hours securing the temple and, at one point, police asked media outlets to stop broadcasting aerial footage from helicopters on television because of tactical operations at the scene.

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The motive for the shooting is still unclear, but an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said the suspect had tattoos that suggested he was a white supremacist.

“It is being investigated. And what his tattoos signified is being investigated. They are all pieces of a possible puzzle to learn what was his motive in carrying out such a horrific act,” Special Agent Thomas Ahern said.

Authorities are investigating the incident as a case of domestic terrorism.

—Posted by Tracy Bloom.

 

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