PRESS CONFERENCE: ‘Heroic Actions’ of Police Saved Lives in Oak Creek Shooting UPDATE: Shooter Reportedly Played in Hate-Metal Rock Band ‘End Apathy’

Posted on | August 6, 2012 | 18 Comments

Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Mayor Stephen Scaffidi praised “the heroic actions of our officers” during a press conference about the Sunday shooting at the Sikh Temple in the Milwaukee suburb. The officer critically wounded in the incident — shot nine times, as the city police chief said — has been identified as Lt. Brian Murphy, 51.

UPDATE: Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards confirmed that the shooter, who was shot dead after firing on with police, was Wade Michael Page, 40, who served in the Army 1992-98, received a “general discharge” and “was ineligible for re-enlistment.”

UPDATE II: Chief Edwards said Lt. Murphy, the first officer on the scene, was “ambushed” by Page and shot nine times “at close range.” The chief said the next two officers who arrived at the Sikh Temple, unaware of what had happened to Lt. Murphy, then confronted Page with “squad rifles” (which I would assume to be M-16s). The officers commanded Page to drop his weapon; instead, Page fired at the officers, striking one of their cars, and was shot dead by the officers’ rifle fire. The officers then located Lt. Murphy, who attempted to “wave them off” — urging them to assist the wounded worshippers at the Temple first. Lt. Murphy had a “very serious” neck wound.

UPDATE III: The names of the six people killed by Page: Bhai Seeta Singh, Bhai Parkash Singh, Bhai Ranjit Singh, Satwant Singh Kaleka, Subegh Singh and Parmjit Kaur Toor. Three others were reportedly wounded, two of those critically. Abby Rogers of Business Insider reports from the press conference:

Teresa Carlson, the FBI’s Milwaukee Special Agent is now speaking. The FBI has no reason to believe more than one person was involved in the shooting, according to Carlson.
Carlson held up a photo of a man she called a “person of interest” in the case. She asked that anyone with information about this unnamed person call the tip line. . . .
According to Edwards, the unnamed person of interest was on scene after the shooting. Some on the scene thought he looked suspicious, but he left before officers could speak with him.

UPDATE IV: This doesn’t come from the press conference, but from Business Insider and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: The suspect, Wade Michael Page, is reported to have spent more than a decade in the racist skinhead/metal rock scene and performed with the band End Apathy. Page was reportedly interviewed in April 2010:

End Apathy began in 2005 and the concept was based on trying to figure out what it would take to actually accomplish positive results in society and what is holding us back. A lot of what I realized at the time was that if we could figure out how to end peoples apathetic ways it would be the start towards moving forward. Of course after that it requires discipline, strict discipline to stay the course in our sick society. So, in a sense it was view of psychology and sociology. But I didn’t want to just point the finger at what other people should do, but also I was willing to point out some of my faults on how I was holding myself back. And that is how I wrote the song “Self Destruct”.

UPDATE V: Summary of the interview with the reported shooter:

[Page said] he had been a part of the white power music scene since 2000, when he left his native Colorado on a motorcycle. He attended white power concerts in Georgia, North Carolina, West Virginia and Colorado. At various times, he said, he also played in the hate rock bands Youngland (2001-2003), Celtic Warrior, Radikahl, Max Resist, Intimidation One, Aggressive Force and Blue Eyed Devils. End Apathy, he said, included “Brent” on bass and “Ozzie” on drums; the men were former members of Definite Hate and another band, 13 Knots.

Via Memeorandum.

UPDATE VI: More on the shooter:

FBI Special Agent in Charge, Teresa Carlson, said a motive is still under investigation, and noted that authorities are looking at Page’s “ties to white supremacist groups.”
Carlson said the shooting is being investigated as a “possible act of terrorism.” She said the suspect “had contact with law enforcement in the past,” but said there was no reason to believe he was capable of such violence.
“Nobody knew that this guy was a threat,” Carlson said.
Reuters reported that [Page’s less-than-honorable] discharge [from the Army in 1998] was for “patterns of misconduct,” including being drunk on duty.
Page served at Fort Bliss, Texas, in the psychological operations unit in 1994, and was last stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., attached to the psychological operations unit. He was an E4 psychological operations specialist, but was never deployed. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct award, the National Defense Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal and Parachutist Badge. . . .
A woman who says she was a neighbor of the suspect tells FoxNews.com that last week she heard yelling coming from the apartment she believes is the same one the FBI is now searching.
The neighbor says, as she understood it, the suspect had lived in the apartment with his girlfriend until their recent break-up. The suspect had then moved into another apartment nearby two weeks ago. She says he had returned to the old apartment and was banging on the door of his old apartment, demanding to be let in.

So, according to the FBI, this ex-military skinhead covered with neo-Nazi tattoos who had previously “had contact with law enforcement” was not viewed as a “threat.” Then he broke up with his girlfriend and became a mass murderer. Just another random coincidence.

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Category: Crime, Wisconsin

Comments

18 Responses to “PRESS CONFERENCE: ‘Heroic Actions’ of Police Saved Lives in Oak Creek Shooting UPDATE: Shooter Reportedly Played in Hate-Metal Rock Band ‘End Apathy’”

‘Who’ Is First of 5 W’s; ‘Why’ Is Last UPDATE: Wade Michael Page … MORE: Reported Discharged From Army in 1998 : The Other McCain
August 6th, 2012 @ 11:46 am

[…] where they may.Facts are more important than politics, at least in the news business.UPDATE VIII: PRESS CONFERENCE: ‘Heroic Actions’ of Police Saved Lives in Oak Creek ShootingPREVIOUSLY:Aug. 5: Patch.com Reporter Jessica McBride Gets Scoop on Sikh Temple Shooting Suspect […]
Jonathan
August 6th, 2012 @ 11:54 am

FYI… In the second update there are a couple of places that you mention “Lt. Page” instead of “Lt. Murphy”.
robertstacymccain
August 6th, 2012 @ 12:05 pm

Thanks for the catch, Jonathan. I hate typos!
Evi L. Bloggerlady
August 6th, 2012 @ 1:00 pm

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/06/authorities-search-for-motive-in-deadly-shooting-at-wisconsin-sikh-temple/ More on Wade. He was initially a good solider but it appears he wasn’t after a while…
And does anyone know who the girl was he broke up with?
Kimchetwo
August 6th, 2012 @ 1:15 pm

This whole thing is odd. The police, US attorney, etc., keep stating that the motivation for the shooting is unclear, yet this is being investigated as an act of “domestic terrorism”? Why? What evidence is there of this? If this is the automatic preliminary designation of any attack against a place of worship, then was the Aurora church shooting last April investigated as an act of domestic terrorism? From what I recall, it wasn’t. Compared to the flood of info after the Aurora movie theater shooting, there is very little info out about this one.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
August 6th, 2012 @ 1:19 pm

http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/08/wisconsin-sikh-temple-shooting-press-conference-update/ Good post by Professor Jacobson.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
August 6th, 2012 @ 1:31 pm

Just as a general note: I know this might shock the left, but us on the right also hate Wisconsin Nazis.
Red
August 6th, 2012 @ 1:35 pm

The Pro-2nd Amendment crowd can thank this racist hatemonger for contributing to the political aftermath from the would-be gun controllers. “Thanks, dead a**hole.”
Evi L. Bloggerlady
August 6th, 2012 @ 1:35 pm

Even if this guy is a white supremacist/neo nazi, if he was acting alone and just flipped (this whole girl friend dumping angle is perhaps part of it)–that makes it more of a hate crime than an act of terrorism. Terrorism typically implies a conspiracy for a political purpose. But this person of interest that they want to find suggest the latter.

Again, this is all speculation. We can guess, but that is all we are doing. The police and FBI seem to be holding what they know close and frankly at this point that seems appropriate.
Jonathan
August 6th, 2012 @ 1:50 pm

I know what you mean! It’s easy to find typos from other people, but much harder to find your own. Thanks for the good reporting, by the way.
Obligatory Post-Massacre Finger-Pointing Scapegoating Blame Game Open Thread : The Other McCain
August 6th, 2012 @ 3:31 pm

[…] ‘Why’ Is Last UPDATE: Wade Michael Page … MORE: Reported Discharged From Army in 1998Aug. 6: PRESS CONFERENCE: ‘Heroic Actions’ of Police Saved Lives in Oak Creek Shooting UPDATE: Shooter R…There was a brief period last night, after I saw the Twitchy post about the insane reaction of […]
Evi L. Bloggerlady
August 6th, 2012 @ 4:51 pm

I want my gun rights so I can defend myself from lunatics regardless of their politics or made up reasons.
DaveO
August 6th, 2012 @ 5:25 pm

His landlord thought Page was from Chicago, making him both a Rahmbot and an Illinois Nazi.
DaveO
August 6th, 2012 @ 5:26 pm

Like the Brady Bunch needed an excuse? Hells bells, Baby Bop tripping over a swing set would set off the Brady Bunch.
DaveO
August 6th, 2012 @ 5:29 pm

The ‘had contact with law enforcement’ seems to have been traffic violations, and nothing more.
Red
August 6th, 2012 @ 5:59 pm

Yeah you right!
crosspatch
August 6th, 2012 @ 7:02 pm

” Then he broke up with his girlfriend and became a mass murderer.”

Same pattern in Aurora. He recently broke up with his G/F, too. Wonder if this is a case of suicide by cop and he wanted to go out in a blaze of publicity.
McGehee
August 7th, 2012 @ 9:50 am

Whatever happened to holding the world hostage for trillions of dollars in ransom? They just don’t make evil masterminds like they used to.