OAK CREEK - The gunman who killed six people at a Sikh temple in southern Wisconsin was a former US serviceman, a law enforcement official said on Monday, and a monitor of extremists said the shooter had links to racist groups.
The gunman, identified as Wade Michael Page, shot dead six people and seriously wounded three, including a police officer, at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin on Sunday as worshippers prepared for religious services. Police shot dead the gunman.
Although the identity of the tall, bald, white suspect in his 40s was not officially released, Fox News said Page, 40, was a former soldier. Page at one time was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Fox said, citing unnamed sources.
CNN said Page legally owned the gun that was used in the shooting.
A law enforcement official who asked not to be identified said the "name that is out there is accurate."
Authorities said they were treating the attack as an act of domestic terrorism.
Wade had been a member of the racist skinhead band End Apathy, based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 2010, said Heidi Beirich, director of the intelligence project at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama.
Wade also tried to buy goods from the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group, in 2000, she said.
"That's all we know about Wade. We are still digging through our files," she said.
A US official who asked not to be identified confirmed that Wade had been in the military and said it was before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Police were searching an apartment at a duplex in the Cudahy neighborhood near Milwaukee, presumed to be the residence of the gunman. Generators and floodlights were set up along the street and a bomb squad was on the scene.
The names of the victims were not made public pending notification of relatives, although members said the president of the congregation and a priest were among the victims.
Oak Creek Police Chief John Richards told CNN the suspect had a military background but gave no more details.
The suspect "lived in a community neighbouring ours, we're doing a 24-hour backcheck, just to get any idea what he was up to, what he was doing," Edwards said.
"Right now there is no indication that there were any red flags."
The wounded police officer had been shot eight or nine times in the face and extremities at close range with a handgun. None of the wounds were life-threatening, Edwards said. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode
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