...

FBI seeks second "person of interest" in Sikh temple attack

Other News Materials 7 August 2012 02:42 (UTC +04:00)
The FBI is looking for a man who may have been recording a video as he walked among those gathered in the aftermath of the Sikh temple shooting, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday.
FBI seeks second "person of interest" in Sikh temple attack

The FBI is looking for a man who may have been recording a video as he walked among those gathered in the aftermath of the Sikh temple shooting, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday, DPA reported.

FBI special agent Teresa Carlson told a broadcast press conference that the white male, who appeared after the attack, was a "person of interest."

A photo distributed by authorities showed the man sporting a "9-11" tattoo on his right arm.

Authorities identified the gunman who opened fire at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin Sunday as Wade Michael Page, a 40-year-old army veteran. The gunman was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police.

John Edwards, the police chief of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, told a press conference Monday that Page was the only shooter in the attack, and that he had received a general discharge from the army in 1998 and was "ineligible for re-enlistment."

Edwards also identified Lieutenant Brian Murphy, 51, a 21-year veteran of the department, as the police officer who was in critical condition after being shot eight to nine times "at very close range" as he attempted to aid a victim in the temple's parking lot.

The Sikh victims included five males between the ages of 39 and 84, and one 41-year-old female, Edwards said.

Three others were wounded in the attack. Of those, two remain in critical condition, and one has been released from hospital.

The attack on Sunday at the temple in Oak Creek, a town just south of Milwaukee, left seven people dead, including the assailant.

The FBI said it is handling the rampage as an act of "domestic terrorism."

While the authorities have not given a motive for the mass killing, they are reportedly investigating whether Page had ties to white supremacist organizations. Witnesses to the shooting said he had a "9/11" tattoo on his arm.

Page was enlisted in the army from April 1992 until October 1998, according to National Public Radio. In that time he reached the rank of sergeant, but was later demoted to specialist.

CNN reported that Page was discharged from the army for "patterns of misconduct," and that he was also a member of a white supremacist band, End Apathy.

In New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, himself a Sikh, said in a statement: "That this senseless act of violence should be targeted at a place of religious worship is particularly painful."

Foreign Minister SM Krishna said that senior Indian diplomats from Washington and Chicago had been dispatched to the shooting site.

Members of the Sikh community held prayers in temples, called gurdwaras, across India on Monday. Hundreds of people gathered in central Milwaukee hours after the killings on Sunday for a candlelight vigil in honour of the victims.

"We are mindful that law enforcement officials have not yet identified the tragic shooting in Wisconsin ... as a hate crime," said Sapreet Kaur, director of the US-based Sikh Coalition, in a statement.

"However, as the focus of the investigation shifts attention to this possible motive, we want to thank Americans of all faiths and backgrounds for standing with the Sikh community in deploring this act of violence.

"We encourage your continued support of the Sikh Americans, who are both grieving this great loss and fearful of similar hate aimed at their family members and places of worship."

US President Barack Obama, speaking at bill-signing ceremony in the Oval Office Monday afternoon, said "all of us are heartbroken by what happened."

Such tragedies are happening with "too much regularity," Obama said, adding that he would "examine additional ways to reduce violence."

"Regardless of what we look like, where we come from, or where we worship, we're all one people," the president said.

Latest

Latest