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Latest update: 07/08/2012
- shootings - USA
Gunman in Wisconsin Sikh temple attack 'Army veteran'
The gunman who killed six people at a Sikh temple in the US state of Wisconsin Sunday in what police have called an act of domestic terrorism has been identified as a US Army veteran. Wade Michael Page was killed in a shootout with police.
By News Wires (text)
AFP - Police on Monday probed the white power ties of the former US soldier who gunned down six people at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, while the close-knit Indian-American community mourned its dead.
Wade Michael Page, 40, burst into the temple with a 9mm handgun and several magazines of ammunition -- all of which had been purchased legally -- and opened fire on worshippers attending a Sunday service, authorities said.
Special Agent Teresa Carlson, head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Milwaukee office, said the suspect -- killed at the scene during a shootout with police -- is now the subject of a "domestic terrorism" investigation.
"We are looking at ties to white supremacist groups," she told reporters, noting that the FBI did not have an active file on Page before the incident.
"No law enforcement agency had any reason to believe he was plotting anything," she said.
But the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group, branded Page a "frustrated neo-Nazi who had been the leader of a racist white-power band," and the SITE Intelligence Group said he was an active skinhead.
Page was a member of the Hammerskins Nation, a group that describes itself on its website as a "leaderless group of men and women who have adopted the White Power Skinhead Lifestyle," SITE said in a report.
"He was identified as a mentor for aspiring skinheads," SITE said, noting that Page "engaged in extensive online activity" and maintained user accounts on "some of the most prominent white supremacist forums."
He issued messages "urging active resistance 'regardless of the outcome,'" and in posts "urged members of the forum not to leave the United States upon the implementation of policies and social developments that they opposed."
"Stand and fight, don't run," Page said, according to SITE.
The Southern Poverty Law Center said the ex-soldier had tried to purchase goods from the National Alliance, a major US hate group, in 2000, and had more recently been the leader of the three-man hardcore punk band "End Apathy."
Photographs of the band on its Myspace webpage (myspace.com/endapathyband) showed Page with a shaved head and Gothic tattoos all over his body.
Band members were shown performing in front of extremist flags, including one bearing the swastika emblem of the Nazi Party.
Page served as a US military "psychological operations specialist" between April 1992 and October 1998, ending his career at the base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, home to the US Army's airborne forces and Special Operations Command.
He was a qualified parachutist who received several good conduct awards and a National Defense Service Medal, but never won significant promotion.
He had a general discharge and was ineligible for reenlistment, Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards told reporters.
FBI agents and local police investigated Page's supposed address in Cudahy, a suburb of Milwaukee just four kilometers (2.5 miles) north of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. They said it was not booby-trapped.
In addition to the dead in the attack, three middle-aged men, including a member of a police unit called to the scene, were reported to be in critical condition with gunshot wounds.
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US President Barack Obama said "soul searching" was needed on how to reduce violence in America after the killings, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was "deeply shocked and saddened."
The attack was the second massacre to shock the United States in under three weeks and may put some pressure on Obama and his rival Mitt Romney to address gun control before the November 6 presidential election.
Last month, a gunman burst into a movie theater showing the new Batman film in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, Colorado, and opened fire, killing 12 people and wounding dozens more.
Obama ordered flags at government buildings to fly at half-staff until sunset Friday over the Sikh killings.
The Indian-American community held a candlelight vigil late Monday to honor the dead, at a temple not far from the scene of Sunday's carnage
"We need this," Harsimran Kaur, 30, said of the service. "It's been chaos. We have suffered so much."
The dead were identified as Paramjit Kaur, a 41-year-old woman, Sita Singh, 41, Ranjit Singh, 49, Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65, Prakash Singh, 39 and Suveg Singh, 84, all men. Singh is a common surname in the Sikh community.
The Indian embassy in Washington said it had been told that four of the six were Indian nationals but did not respond to a request for more details.
The Washington-based Sikh Coalition said there had been "thousands" of incidents of hate crimes, discrimination and profiling against Sikhs since the September 11 attacks of 2001, attributing blame to anti-Muslim sentiment.
Religious tradition demands that Sikh Indians wear turbans to cover their uncut hair and sport long beards, which often leads them to be mistaken for Muslims in the United States.
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Comments (4)
A shock
This is really shocking. I mean, sure some people may be racist verbally. But this was crossing the line!Racist whites should accept the different cultures, not try to get rid of them or whatever they are trying to do now.
Sikhs in the US – Fatal
Sikhs in the US – Fatal Victims of a Serious Identity Crisis
Once again, the Sikh community in the US has been attacked since 9/11. Despite the US Govt’s assurances, there have been more than 700 incidences of hate crimes committed against the Sikhs since 9/11. Violence against any community is intolerable, be it a Sikh or non Sikh. The US Govt has made efforts to ensure the safety of minorities like the Sikhs in the US, but unfortunately it is still not enough. America has once again failed to address the root cause of the problem & till that root cause is not adressed, I am afraid that attacks like these will again recur. Despite repeated claims by the Sikhs in the US that they are different from the Muslims, though they may resemble them in physical appearance, & that we Sikhs have nothing in common with them, the US Govt has not taken a serious note about their grievances. It is up to the US Govt to properly explain to the American people, the TRUE DEFINITION OF A SIKH & HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE A SIKH FROM A NON SIKH & TILL THIS ISSUE IS NOT ADDRESSED, AMERICANS WILL NEVER KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SIKH & A NON SIKH & SIKHS WILL BE REPEATEDLY TARGETTED DUE TO THIS IDENTITY CRISIS FUELLED BY A WAVE OF ISLAMOPHOBIA/XENOPHOBIA THAT IS SWEEPING THE COUNTRY. Despite protests by Sikhs in the US, the FBI still clubs crimes against the Sikhs with Anti Muslim crimes & is not treating them as separate crimes. One more shocking truth that has emerged from the Wisconsin massacre is that the perpetrator of this heinous crime is a an Army veteran. He was already on the Police’s watchlist for affiliation to various White supremacist groups & Neo Nazi groups & being member of a far right punk band with hate for other races. Had the law enforcement agencies restrained him earlier, this tragedy would have never happened. Now, the Govt should atleast arrest & restrain such individuals who harbour a far right ideology like him, those who are associated with these White supremacist groups & pose a danger to minorities. Now that it has been proven beyond doubt that the Gurudwara shooter was a Neo Nazi, I wonder why the US Govt is still in denial that it is a Hate crime rather than dismissing it as a case of Domestic Terrorism or is it due to the impending Elections in order to appease a vote bank?. THE PEOPLE NEED SOME SERIOUS ACTION FROM THE GOVT RATHER THAN GETTING ONLY REPEATED CONDOLENCES FOR THESE ACTS OF VIOLENCE WHICH ARE HAPPENING AGAIN AND AGAIN.
The US Govt says that every US citizen enjoys the Right to Freedom of Speech as enshrined in the American Constitututuion, but they should realise that it is beneficial so long as a Constructive ideology is perpetuated to the masses & not a Destructive ideology which these Racist White groups are employing. They are spreading their venom through hate music, hate forums, their magazines & editorials etc under the guise of Right to Freedom of Speech. This is how the Nazis came to power in Germany. By spreading their evil ideology among the masses, they are trying to brainwash them & if the Govt does not clamp down hard on them now, later it may be too late as their Evil ideology is already spreading with an increase in the number of hate crimes aginst the minorities & immigrants & most of them are Anti Semitic & deny the Holocaust just like the Nazis. THE US GOVT. AND OTHER CONCERNED COUNTRIES WILL HAVE TO ADOPT A ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY AGAINST THESE RACIST GROUPS BEFORE THEIR EVIL IDEOLOGY SPREADS TO A LARGER SECTION OF THE POPULATION AS SEEN IN CERTAIN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ALREADY. Unfortunately, their nefarious designs are being helped by the current Economic downturn in Europe & the US, increased layoffs from jobs, foreclosures & rising unemployment which has given them an excuse to target the immigrants. Due to these factors, some of these Racist groups have formed Political parties & even won some seats in the Parliaments of their respective countries like the British Nationalist Party in UK & the Golden Dawn Party in Greece which are Pro White & want to kick out all the Immigrants from their countries.
Apart from fighting Al Qaeda terrorists, they have to fight these Right Wing terrorists too who are destroying the country from within & whatever their forefathers including Abraham Lincoln died fighting for. Their is no place for this Hateful ideology in today’s cosmopolitan world & at the same time, both this Racist Neo Nazi ideology cannnot coexist in a multicultural society like the USA & other related countries in Europe which have also accepted multiculturalism as a part of their National Policy. So, the US Govt. & related countries should ban all these Racist groups & parties & blacklist them & arrest their members like it has been done for Al Qaeda. In today’s competitive world, evidence has shown that those countries like Canada that have adopted Multiculturalism as part of its national policy are progressing forwards, while those that adopt a racist ideology are left behind in Global development. Other countries too are facing this problem, like the large scale massacre in Oslo, Norway last year which was again committed by a Right Wing terrorist. SO UNLESS THE GOVT ACTS NOW & NIPS THIS EVIL IN THE BUD, LATER ON IT WILL GROW BEYOND CONTROL & EAT THE GOVT ITSELF.
Again I am reiterating that violence perpetrated against any community is intolerable be it a Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Jew, Black etc. The second main cause of this problem is the LAX GUN CULTURE IN THE US. UNLESS THE US GOVT IMPOSES STRICT RESTRICTIONS ON THE SALE & PURCHASE OF WEAPONS, THESE SENSELESS ACTS OF VIOLENCE WILL ONLY RECUR. Unfortunately, the Wisconsin shooting took place a few weeks after the Colorado theatre massacre, but still the US Govt has still not taken any serious steps to control the Gun culture in the country. If the US Govt is still not able to prevent these acts of violence against the Sikhs & other minorities, they will eventually get disillusioned with the State & start creating their own security. IF I AM NOT WRONG, US CITIZENS HAVE POSSESSION OF 50% OF ALL THE FIREARMS AVAILABLE IN THE WORLD WHICH IS INDEED SHOCKING. So, it is no surprise that Gun related crimes keep happening repeatedly in the US either in schools, malls, parking lots etc.
The Punjabis & the Sikhs are a hard working community & have made their impact felt wherever in the world thay have settled including the US. Sikhs in the US have contributed immensely to its economic success & they are a very friendly & peace loving people by nature always helping people in need including those from other communities too, a quality for which they are known throughout the world. The Sikh religion is the most modern religion in the world, just 500 years old & a person of any faith can come to a Sikh place of worship which is called a Gurudwara. In our religion, Women have equal rights as Men since the founding of this religion 500 years back. The 9/11 attacks, the economic problems in the US including rising unemployment & the economic success of the Sikhs in the US & mistaking Sikhs as Muslims has also led to a rise in attacks against the Sikhs by Racist White groups.
THE FAILURE OF THE US GOVT TO STOP SUCH ATTACKS AGAINST MINORITY GROUPS IN THE US WILL ONLY PROJECT THE IMAGE OF USA AS AN INTOLERANT SOCIETY ABROAD AND WILL BE A REPEATED CAUSE FOR INTERNATIONAL EMBARASSMENT CONCERNING THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF MINORITIES IN THE US.
racism
Ignorance and racism, the same sides of a coin.Unfortunaely its all down to education,the more uneducated the more hate.Unfortunaely western media,and broadcasting and society are not immune to ignorance.
Sikh temple attack Wisconsin
It seems that there is so much evil in the world today that people like this are just haters. For people of color or other religions it is just not freedom if you can't go to church or to a temple to worship. What kind of world is this?? Does everyone need to be checked with some kind of psychological testing when they're in or out of the military and before college and after? Or just have armed people in the buildings or facilities and such ready to protect the innocent.
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