Thaindian News

Oak Creek (Wisconsin), Aug 8 (IANS) Wade Michael Page, the gunman who killed six worshippers at the Sikh gurdwara here Sunday, shot and killed himself after he was wounded by an Oak Creek police officer, FBI said Wednesday.

Evidence, including videotape, related to the officer shooting Page showed the gunman took his own life after the rifle shot took him down, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in charge Teresa Carlson told reporters at the FBI office in Milwaukee.

Authorities previously had said that Oak Creek officer Sam Lenda shot and killed Page with a rifle after the gunman refused commands to put down his weapon and fired at officers.

“The evidence indicates that the second responding officer who shot Page in the stomach, thereby neutralising the threat - and by the way, I’ve seen the video, it is an amazing shot,” Carlson was quoted as saying by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“And thank goodness. Subsequent to that wound, it appears that Page died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head,” Carlson said.

Carlson said Page acted alone, but they continue to investigate in part because of his ties to white-supremacist groups.

The investigation has included more than 100 interviews that have occurred with Page’s family members, associates, neighbours and employers nationwide, Carlson said.

She said authorities are pursuing 101 leads worldwide and have issued 180 grand jury subpoenas.

Authorities also are reviewing Page’s email and telephone records, state Department of Transportation video and neighbourhood security video.

Carlson said the temple’s video surveillance system was not turned on Sunday so there is no view of the shooting from inside the temple.

Searches of Page’s residence, vehicle, a rented storage locker and space he had at a former employer have been conducted, she said.

“I want to reiterate again that after all of this work we still have identified no one else responsible for this shooting other than him,” Carlson said. “We also have not clearly defined his motive at this point.”

Page’s ex-girlfriend, Misty Cook, 31, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm by South Milwaukee police, the Journal Sentinel said.

A gun was found in her residence in the 1400 block of Marquette Ave. when investigators searched the residence she and Page had rented together in February.

Cook continued living in the residence after she and Page broke up in June. He moved to a duplex in Cudahy, which also was searched.

Authorities said Tuesday that Cook, who also has ties to white-supremacist groups, had no role in the rampage.

Lt. Brian Murphy, who was among three people wounded in the attack, is up and walking, Police Chief John Edwards said. Two other shooting victims, Punjab Singh and Santokh Singh, remain hospitalised at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa. A third worshipper who was shot and injured Sunday was treated and released.

–Indo-Asian News Service
ak/snb/vt