Oak Creek (Wisconsin): Two days after a gunman shot dead six worshippers at a Wisconsin gurdwara, police were still clueless about what prompted the former soldier’s rampage at the house of worship.
Police had not identified a motive or found any telltale writings or note left by Wade Michael Page, 40, Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards said Tuesday. His family members have also not reported observing any warning signs.
Page, an army veteran who neighbours say played in a far-right punk band, was the lone gunman in the Sunday rampage at a Sikh temple, Edwards was quoted as saying by CNN.
Michael Wade Page.
According to Edwards and the FBI, authorities have received tips that Page might have links to the white supremacist movement, but nothing had been confirmed.
“We may end up with just a lot of facts on what he is involved with, who he may be associated with, but we may never know that motive, because he died, and that motive died with him,” Edwards said.
Counter to speculation, Page did not have a 9/11 tattoo, he said.
While the FBI has said Page never was the subject of an investigation, he was mentioned in a small number of federal law enforcement reference files in cases going back seven years, the channel said citing a law enforcement official.
But the official did not provide details about the nature of the cases in which Page’s name was mentioned.
Two neighbours of Page identified him in photos that showed him playing in the far-right punk band “End Apathy” with Nazi flags hanging near him.
A University of Nebraska at Omaha professor told CNN that he knew Page while doing research on extremist groups about 10 years ago.
Page told him he identified with neo-Nazis during his time in the military, Pete Simi said. The former soldier told him he believed the deck was stacked against whites, Simi said, adding he believed Page drank excessively.
According to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Page had no apparent ties to the Milwaukee area except for his former girl friend, 31-year-old Misty Cook, who may have shared his white power beliefs.
Cook who worked at a restaurant about a block away from the gurdwara may be the reason Page moved to the area about nine months ago, it said citing the Anti-Defamation League, which has been tracking both of them for years.
Page and Cook broke up in June and she had no role in the rampage, authorities said.
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