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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Former North Carolina Senator and former presidential candidate, John Edwards, was facing up to 30 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine when he was found not guilty on one of six charges he was facing Thursday. The judge declared mistrial on the remaining charges.

After nine days of deliberation the jury finally came to a decision for the fate of John Edwards, finding him not guilty on the charge of accepting illegal campaign contributions from a wealthy donor to hide his pregnant mistress, Rielle Hunter. The rest of the charges the jurors were at a deadlock. Their inability to make a unanimous decision caused Judge Catherine Eagles to call a mistrial.

“There were times it got very frustrating, the emotions got high. We’d have to take a minute, step back, and just everyone calm down,” said Cindy Aquaro, one of the jurors on the case, on NBC’s The Today Show.

When Matt Lauer asked the three jurors on The Today Show to raise their hand if they thought “John Edwards was guilty on at least some of the counts against him”, all three raised their hands. When Lauer asked them to raise their hands if they though “John Edwards is a bad guy,” none of them raised their hands.

“We all came in with our own preconceived notions but once the evidence was laid out we had to separate that,” juror Ladonna Foster told Lauer.

“I think he was guilty, but like we said, the evidence just was not there for us to prove guilt,” juror Cindy Aquaro continued to tell Lauer.

The other charges against him involved donations in 2007 and 2008 from wealthy donors, Rachel Mellon and  Fred Baron, a conspiracy charge and charge for knowingly making false statements.

“It’s not surprising that they are splitting on the verdict, because the case is about splitting hairs on whether the money was being used to fool a wife or to fool the election committee,” said Roy Futterman, a jury consultant.

Following the verdict, Edwards stood on the courthouse stairs with his parents and his oldest daughter, Cate, thanking the jurors for “their diligence” and his family for sticking with him through the  trial.

“While I do not believe I did anything illegal or ever thought I was doing something illegal, I did an awful, awful lot that is wrong, and there is no one else responsible for my sins.” Edwards said.

Image Courtesy of   John Edwards 2008

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