FBI: Sikh temple shooter killed himself

MILWAUKEE -- Wade Michael Page, who killed six people at a Sikh temple outside Milwaukee, died after shooting himself in the head, officials said Wednesday.

Page, 40, an Army veteran, opened fire with a 9 mm pistol at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin shortly before Sunday services. The dead included temple president Satwant Singh Kaleka.

Page shot a responding police officer at least eight times in the parking lot before another officer wounded him. Police initially said the officer killed Page, but Teresa Carlson, the FBI's special agent in charge in Milwaukee, said yesterday that Page shot himself in the head after he was hit and died of that wound.

Still, police search for a motive. Although detectives have interviewed more than 100 people, combed through Page's email and recovered hundreds of pieces of evidence from his residences to the temple, their findings might never be presented in court.

Federal investigators are developing theories but also may never know for certain why he chose to attack total strangers in a holy place.

"We're trying to piece together, and eventually we will piece together as much as we can," said Steven Conley, assistant agent in charge of national security for the FBI in Milwaukee. "We will have a good idea of the motive by the time this investigation is done. But again, why that building, that temple, at that time, that may have died with Page."

At the moment, detectives are sifting through the gunman's life, assembling the biography of a man who apparently had few relatives, a spotty work history and a thin criminal record.

The FBI's Carlson said investigators haven't linked anyone else to the attack or found any kind of note left by Page.

The Sikh community holds out hope. "We just want to get to the bottom of what motivated him to do it," said Amardeep Singh, an executive with the New York-based Sikh Coalition. "It's important to acknowledge why they lost their lives."

A native of Littleton, Colo., Page had a record of minor alcohol-related crimes in Texas, Colorado and North Carolina. Page eventually moved to Wisconsin, living in South Milwaukee with a girlfriend, Misty Cook; they broke up this spring, neighbors said.

Cook, 31, and a nursing student, faced some legal trouble herself, though Carlson said yesterday that her arrest over the weekend was not connected to the shootings. Cook was arrested on a weapons violation Sunday after investigators interviewed her about Page, but Carlson said she was cooperative and was quickly released.