Authorities are investigating the motives that compelled a 40-year-old man to gun down a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., killing six and leaving several injured.
Several news outlets identified the gunman as Wade Michael Page, who was killed after a confrontation with police. Page, who was white, was an Army veteran and may have had extreme racial views, according to the Washington Post. Police say they are treating the event as a possible domestic terrorism event but have not released any additional information.
Though there has been little violence to this extreme against Sikhs, many say they’ve reported feeling a rise in hostile sentiment after 9/11 because many mistake them for Muslims, the New York Times reported.
“Everyone here is thinking this is a hate crime for sure,” Manjit Singh, who goes to a different temple in the region, told the Times. “People think we are Muslims.”
Police authorities maintain they have not determined the gunman’s exact motives.
This event comes two weeks after a mass shooting in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater that left 12 dead and nearly 60 people injured.
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