The man responsible for the massacre that killed six people in a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin shot himself in the head, as confirmed by the FBI on August 8. The authorities have maintained so far that the shooter, Wade Michael Page, died from being shot during a confrontation with a police officer after the killings.

FBI Special Agent in Wisconsin, Teresa Carlson, said on a news conference on Wednesday that, according to the security video footage of the scene, it was the shot in the head, not the one from the police officer received in the stomach, that killed Page. Therefore, he committed suicide when he was already injured by the first officer, who responded to emergency calls in the temple of Oak Creek, south of Milwaukee.

Carlson, who leads the investigation, also confirmed that Page acted alone and did not blame anyone else for the shooting. In the hours after the incident, local police did not rule out that Page had received support.

Carlson said the FBI is going to keep investigating, to determine the causes which would lead the Army veteran to act against a religious temple, and why he would choose the one on Oak Creek.

“This is a guy that has moved around a lot, and so we are very, very thorough. We’re going to try to talk everybody that he may have had contact with or anywhere that he may have been. So we’ve got leads going in a lot of different places.”

Although Page’s supremacist ideas are well known, there is still a lot to be clarified: “We may never know exactly why he chose that place at that time,” Steven Conley, an FBI assistant, told reporters. “We may have a good idea of his motives when the investigation is finished, but the reasons may have disappeared with Page.”

Authorities also said on press conferences that Lt. Brian Murphy, the veteran Oak Creek police officer who first arrived at the temple and was shot at least eight times, is recovering.

“He’s progressing amazingly and we’re very, very thankful for that,” said Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards. “Yesterday he was up walking and they had him sitting up for a period of time.”

As part of the investigation, police arrested Page’s former girlfriend on August 7 as a “felon in possession of a firearm,” according to South Milwaukee police investigator Michael Hill. However, she is not being accused of playing a role in the slaughter.

Image Courtesy of   BC Gov Photos

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About the author

Francisco Fajardo
Journalist graduated from the Navarra University, he has worked on newspapers and radio in Spain. His passions are sports, history and politics. Now he is part of the Toonari Post team.