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Mourners gather to remember victims killed at Wisconsin Sikh temple
JSOnline: About 3,000 people filled the Oak Creek High School gymnasium in Wisconsin today to attend the funeral and memorial service for the six victims of Sunday’s Sikh temple shootings.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was among those who spoke. “In the recent past, too many Sikhs have been targeted and victimized simply because of who they are, how they look, and what they believe,” he said. “This is wrong. It is unacceptable. And it will not be tolerated.”
Photo: Friends and family members bring caskets into Oak Creek High School. (Chris Wilson / Journal Sentinel)
Big ups for Eric Holder’s strong words.
In 28 years of law enforcement, I have seen a lot of hate. I have seen a lot of revenge. I’ve seen a lot of anger. What I saw, particularly from the Sikh community this week was compassion, concern, support. What I didn’t see was hate. I did not see revenge. I didn’t see any of that. And in law enforcement that’s unusual to not see that reaction to something like this. I want you all to understand how unique that is.Oak Creek, Wisc. Police Chief John Edwards • Addressing a crowd gathered to honor victims of last weekend’s shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin on Tuesday night. This morning, FBI special agent Teresa Carlson revealed to members of the press that, despite previous reports that the shooter was killed by police, he actually died as the result of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head after being wounded by an officer returning fire. source (via • follow)
He was gentle and kind and loving and a he was a happy person and a happy child. And what happened, God only knows, because I don’t. … When he lived in Texas with us, he had Hispanic friends and he had black friends. You know, there was none of that.Wade Michael Page’s stepmother, Laura Page • Discussing how she remembers the suspect in the Sikh temple shooting over the weekend. She divorced Page’s father and hadn’t seen Wade since 1999 (before he got caught up in the white supremacist movement), so when he surfaced in the news recently, it was as a much different person than the one she knew. Page, who was killed in the shooting, is suspected of killing six people at a Sikh temple near Milwaukee. (more here)
The Associated Press has created an impressive embeddable interactive graphic to go with the Sikh temple shooting. It explains everything you need to know about what happened. Click above to check it out. (more here)
The Southern Poverty Law Center is reporting that Sikh temple shooting suspect Wade Michael Page, shown above, was formerly a member of a skinhead band called End Apathy, and had ties to the white supremacist music scene dating back to 2000. (photo, above, via Buzzfeed’s Jessica Testa; more here)
By coming here, you guys have proved that even though even though some of us are Christians, Sikh, Muslims or Hindu, the biggest religion in the world is humanity.A speaker at a candlelight vigil held for victims of the Sikh temple shooting • Preaching a message of tolerance in the wake of yesterday’s deadly shooting. The vigil drew hundreds of people, some of whom held up boards which spelled out the phrase ”WISCONSIN WEEPS.” The cause of the shooting, described as domestic terrorism, is still under investigation, though. (more here)
solutionsbecomeproblems says: “No confirmation has been made of the tie” —What kind of confirmation are you looking for? A non-Sikh white man attacks Sikh people in a Sikh Temple. Hmm, that’s not confirmation enough? You need a quote from the killer’s own mouth?
» SFB says: No, but a tie to an extremist group would probably do it. You can’t say that someone is tied to an extremist group without concrete evidence. Now if he held those views on his own (a lone wolf situation), that is another matter entirely, but as of right now, there is no confirmation that he is tied to another group. If he has these ties, this stuff will come out (and it’s probably safe to call this a “domestic terror” incident), but let’s not take for granted what we think we know until it’s in front of us. — Ernie @ SFB
EDIT: And now, via the Southern Poverty Law Center, we have some evidence of ties to extremism.
Authorities confirmed to CBS News on Monday that Page was the suspect in the shooting. He was killed outside the temple in a shootout with police officers after the rampage that left terrified congregants hiding in closets and others texting friends outside for help.
Multiple sources tell CBS News that Page was a former member of the U.S. military, but he was no longer serving actively. It was not immediately clear under what circumstances Page left the military.
Officials had previously described the suspect as a heavy-set, 40-year-old Caucasian with numerous tattoos.
While it has been suggested that ties to racial extremist groups played a role in the shooting incident (due in part to Page’s tattoos), no confirmation has been made of the tie. (more here; edit for clarification)
EDIT: The Southern Poverty Law Center claims that Page was previously tied to the white power music scene.
Tattoos on the body of the slain Sikh temple gunman and certain biographical details led the FBI to treat the attack at a Milwaukee-area temple as an act of domestic terrorism, officials said Sunday.
The shootings in Oak Creek, Wis., left seven dead, including the gunman, and three critically wounded. One of the injured was a police officer who was expected to survive.
A federal official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media refused to say whether the gunman was thought to belong to a hate group or some other violent group because the investigation was still unfolding.
The shooting, which killed seven (including the shooter), is now believed to be the work of only one gunman, despite earlier reports suggesting otherwise. (more here)
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My sincerest condolences go out to all those affected by the recent shooting in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Several close friends of mine have loved ones who attend the Sikh Temple, so we will be organizing and providing any assistance needed to the community affected. If you live in the Milwaukee area and are interested in helping out, please, feel free to message me or send me an e-mail.
If you’re not familiar, mohandasgandhi is a great, totally vouchable member of the Tumblr community and lives in the general region. Shoot her an e-mail with any questions. (more here)
Terry Ratzmann, a buttoned-down churchgoer known for sharing his homegrown vegetables with his neighbors, walked into the room and coolly fired 22 rounds from a 9mm handgun, going up and down the rows.
One of Ratzmann’s friends begged him to stop, calling him by name and saying “Stop, stop, why?”, Police Capt. Phil Horter said. Chandra Frazier dove under a chair. The man sitting in it died.
“I just remember crawling on the carpet and just praying, screaming out and praying,” Frazier said in a broadcast interview on Sunday.
Before it was over, seven people, including the church’s minister and his teenage son, were killed and four others wounded. Ratzmann then took his own life, police said.
Ratzmann was a regular of the Living Church of God; it’s unknown at this time if the Oak Creek suspect or suspects had any prior ties to the Sikh temple. (more here)
A desperate wait: “A family member prays in a parking lot while waiting to hear information about his loved ones inside the Sikh Temple on S. Howell Avenue where a shooting occurred, Sunday.” (photo by Mike De Sisti/Milwuakee Journal Sentinel; more here)
On the scene: Members of the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek wait outside of the temple, at what is being described as a “mass casualty incident” by a local hospital. Patch has more photos here. (photo by Charles Gorney/Oak Creek Patch; more here)
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