Wisconsin Sikh Temple’s Shooter Was Long Known As White Supremacist

Sikhs have become the targets of Islamophobic hate since Sept. 11, though authorities are still investigating the shooter's motive.

By Julianne Hing Aug 06, 2012

The details coming out in the aftermath of the Sunday’s tragic shooting at a Sikh gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin are just as grim and terrifying as folks expected. Wade Michael Page, the identified shooter, was not just a 40-year-old military veteran before he shot and killed six people gathered at a Wisconsin temple. He was also being tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Center, who’d long ago identified him as a member of white supremacist circles, including as a band leader of a group called End Apathy. Page gave an interview to a white supremacist website in 2010, and told them he’d been part of the white power music scene since 2000, until he formed his band in 2005 with the goal of ending his own and others’ apathy. Prior to his white supremacist ties, Page was an enlisted Army man who joined the military in 1992 and was discharged in 1998, the [Christian Science Monitor](http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0806/Sikh-temple-shooter-identified-as-Wade-Michael-Page-white-supremacist) reported. But on Sunday, Page turned his gun on American Sikhs who were gathering for Sunday services. He killed six people before a police officer shot and killed Page.