[h=3]By Judy Keen, USA TODAY[/h]Updated
BROOKFIELD, Wis. – Hundreds of people gathered at a Sikh temple here Monday night to mark the deaths of six fellow Sikhs in a shooting Sunday.
Mourners attend a special service Monday at the Sikh Religious Society of Wisconsin for the victims of the shooting.
Vijay Talwar, 60, a member of the Brookfield temple, came to mourn and seek answers. "Why? Why? Why?" he asked.
Johinder San Dhawalia, 64, came to help his fellow Sikhs and allow himself to hurt. "Sadness, pain is everywhere," he said. "We can't bring them back."
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was there, too, but the vigil was a place for the state's close-knit Sikh community to share sorrow.
The temple 20 miles away in Oak Creek, where Wade Page shot six people before a police officer shot and killed him is still behind police tape. Funerals there can't begin until at least Thursday, when law enforcement officials plan to vacate it. So everyone, it seemed, came here instead.
They began arriving more than an hour before the vigil was to begin and were still flowing in when the temple was filled beyond capacity.
On a table laden with flowers were children's drawings with messages of hope: "God never dies." "No hate." "Fearless."
Under gleaming chandeliers people sat shoeless — men on the left, women on the right — and listened to three musicians playing rhythmic music and chanting. One of the messages on a screen read, "Wealth, the beauty of youth and flowers are guests for only a few days."
Ravi Chawla, 65, stood in the temple's doorstep and dispensed hugs to arriving friends from Oak Creek. It was, she explained, her first chance to show her concern and loss.
"I'm just heartbroken right now," she said. "It's a terrible thing."
Becky Steffes, 78, was visiting a temple for the first time. She felt, she said, "just a sense of hopelessness. What can we do?"
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BROOKFIELD, Wis. – Hundreds of people gathered at a Sikh temple here Monday night to mark the deaths of six fellow Sikhs in a shooting Sunday.
By Darren Hauck, Getty Images
Mourners attend a special service Monday at the Sikh Religious Society of Wisconsin for the victims of the shooting.
Mourners attend a special service Monday at the Sikh Religious Society of Wisconsin for the victims of the shooting.
Vijay Talwar, 60, a member of the Brookfield temple, came to mourn and seek answers. "Why? Why? Why?" he asked.
Johinder San Dhawalia, 64, came to help his fellow Sikhs and allow himself to hurt. "Sadness, pain is everywhere," he said. "We can't bring them back."
- [h=3]PHOTOS: Residents react to shooting[/h]
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was there, too, but the vigil was a place for the state's close-knit Sikh community to share sorrow.
The temple 20 miles away in Oak Creek, where Wade Page shot six people before a police officer shot and killed him is still behind police tape. Funerals there can't begin until at least Thursday, when law enforcement officials plan to vacate it. So everyone, it seemed, came here instead.
They began arriving more than an hour before the vigil was to begin and were still flowing in when the temple was filled beyond capacity.
On a table laden with flowers were children's drawings with messages of hope: "God never dies." "No hate." "Fearless."
Under gleaming chandeliers people sat shoeless — men on the left, women on the right — and listened to three musicians playing rhythmic music and chanting. One of the messages on a screen read, "Wealth, the beauty of youth and flowers are guests for only a few days."
Ravi Chawla, 65, stood in the temple's doorstep and dispensed hugs to arriving friends from Oak Creek. It was, she explained, her first chance to show her concern and loss.
"I'm just heartbroken right now," she said. "It's a terrible thing."
Becky Steffes, 78, was visiting a temple for the first time. She felt, she said, "just a sense of hopelessness. What can we do?"
For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to [email protected]. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.
USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines.