OAK CREEK, Wis. — The man who allegedly shot and killed six people inside a Sikh temple south of Milwaukee on Sunday was a military veteran from a neighboring community, Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards said Monday morning.
The name of the assailant, who was fatally shot by a police officer in the temple parking lot after he allegedly shot a different police officer at close range, was not released.
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Police in Wisconsin say one suspect has been "put down" outside a Sikh temple and they do not know if other shooters are inside the building Authorities were called to the temple Sunday morning with a report of shots fired.
Edwards told CNN that the shooter had a military background and lived nearby. He said police were investigating reports that the shooter, who was white, may have harbored extreme racial views. But he cautioned that none of those allegations had been confirmed.
The incident shocked the close-knit Sikh community and horrified Americans of all backgrounds, coming just two weeks after a mass shooting in Aurora, Colo., in which a gunman killed 12 people and injured 58 at a movie theater. James Holmes, 24, has been charged in that massacre.
Police said that Sunday’s gunman entered the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek during a religious service and sprayed automatic-weapon fire, killing four people inside the building and two more outside. Three people were injured.
The shootings, which happened about 10:30 a.m. Central time, caused chaos at the 15-year-old temple, with reports of multiple gunmen and of police, in tactical gear and carrying assault rifles, surrounding the building. Police said later that they think the man killed was the only shooter. Federal and state agents are examining his background, including whether he had posted anything on the Internet, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is unfolding.
A semiautomatic pistol was recovered at the scene, officials said.
The FBI is leading the investigation, with help from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and local police. Edwards said the shootings are being “treated as a domestic terrorist-type incident.”
But federal law enforcement officials said it was too early to tell what happened and why.
“Right now, it’s just a mass shooting,” said a federal official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not an authorized spokesman. “What you have is somebody who went into a Sikh temple and opened fire. Who knows what his motivation was?’’
Teresa Carlson, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Milwaukee Division, said that “while the FBI is investigating whether this matter might be an act of domestic terrorism, no motive has been determined at this time.”
President Obama and his Republican rival in the fall election, Mitt Romney, issued statements Sunday expressing condolences to the victims in Oak Creek and the Sikh community. Obama met with top federal officials and pledged federal assistance to Wisconsin.
“At this difficult time, the people of Oak Creek must know that the American people have them in our thoughts and prayers,” he said.
The pain was especially felt among the nation’s more than 500,000 adherents of the Sikh faith, most of whom are first- or second-generation immigrants from India, where Sikhism was founded several centuries ago.
The name of the assailant, who was fatally shot by a police officer in the temple parking lot after he allegedly shot a different police officer at close range, was not released.
Video
Police in Wisconsin say one suspect has been "put down" outside a Sikh temple and they do not know if other shooters are inside the building Authorities were called to the temple Sunday morning with a report of shots fired.
Edwards told CNN that the shooter had a military background and lived nearby. He said police were investigating reports that the shooter, who was white, may have harbored extreme racial views. But he cautioned that none of those allegations had been confirmed.
The incident shocked the close-knit Sikh community and horrified Americans of all backgrounds, coming just two weeks after a mass shooting in Aurora, Colo., in which a gunman killed 12 people and injured 58 at a movie theater. James Holmes, 24, has been charged in that massacre.
Police said that Sunday’s gunman entered the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek during a religious service and sprayed automatic-weapon fire, killing four people inside the building and two more outside. Three people were injured.
The shootings, which happened about 10:30 a.m. Central time, caused chaos at the 15-year-old temple, with reports of multiple gunmen and of police, in tactical gear and carrying assault rifles, surrounding the building. Police said later that they think the man killed was the only shooter. Federal and state agents are examining his background, including whether he had posted anything on the Internet, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is unfolding.
A semiautomatic pistol was recovered at the scene, officials said.
The FBI is leading the investigation, with help from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and local police. Edwards said the shootings are being “treated as a domestic terrorist-type incident.”
But federal law enforcement officials said it was too early to tell what happened and why.
“Right now, it’s just a mass shooting,” said a federal official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not an authorized spokesman. “What you have is somebody who went into a Sikh temple and opened fire. Who knows what his motivation was?’’
Teresa Carlson, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Milwaukee Division, said that “while the FBI is investigating whether this matter might be an act of domestic terrorism, no motive has been determined at this time.”
President Obama and his Republican rival in the fall election, Mitt Romney, issued statements Sunday expressing condolences to the victims in Oak Creek and the Sikh community. Obama met with top federal officials and pledged federal assistance to Wisconsin.
“At this difficult time, the people of Oak Creek must know that the American people have them in our thoughts and prayers,” he said.
The pain was especially felt among the nation’s more than 500,000 adherents of the Sikh faith, most of whom are first- or second-generation immigrants from India, where Sikhism was founded several centuries ago.