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Neo-Nazi Sikh temple shooter shot himself dead in the head after killing six in Wisconsin massacre

Mail, UK/August 8, 2012

By Rachel Quigley

The neo-Nazi who killed six worshippers at a Sikh temple on Sunday morning died after turning the gun on himself, it was revealed today.

It was originally believed that Wade Michael Page had been killed by a police officer who was wounded after responding to the shooting.

Special agent Teresa Carlson told reporters in Milwaukee that the 41-year-old gunman shot himself in the head after the second police officer responding to the scene shot him in the stomach.

The disturbing moment was caught on camera. A motive has not yet been given for the senseless massacre.

Oak Creek Police Officer Sam Lenda - the second officer who responded to the scene - has been credited with shooting Page in the stomach.

'It is an amazing shot and thank goodness,' Carlson said today.

The first responding officer, Lt Brian Murphy, was shot nine times but survived the shooting.

Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards said at the news conference that Murphy has started walking around again.

Carlson said the FBI had received 101 leads 'worldwide' during its investigation but reaffirmed that no one else other than Page has been connected to the shooting.

It comes on the same day as Page's former girlfriend Misty Cook, from Milwaukee, was arrested after a gun was found at her home. She and Page were said to have broken up shortly before the Wisconsin massacre.

Wade Page was said to have harboured white supremacist views and would rant about a 'racial holy war', according to an old friend of his from the army.

The gunman was a 'gentle young man' when growing up, according to his mother - but by the time he enlisted in the Army in Milwaukee in 1992, he was already a neo-Nazi sympathiser.

Christopher Robillard, another former soldier, told CNN that Page was his 'closest friend' in the military, but that even then he had troubling political beliefs.

The future killer was 'a very kind, very smart individual' who 'loved his friends', according to Mr Robillard, who added that Page was 'one of those guys with a soft spot'.

But Mr Robillard said that his friend was 'involved with white supremacy,' and continued: 'He would talk about the racial holy war, like he wanted it to come.

'But to me, he didn't seem like the type of person to go out and hurt people.

'I never pictured him as someone who would do anything. I thought maybe he was just saying it for attention.'

After Page was discharged from the Army in 1998 for turning up drunk at parade, he apparently moved to Denver, where he 'was basically living on the streets'.

During this difficult time, according to Mr Robillard, Page became more involved in the supremacist movement, joining his first racist band - but the group kicked him out after his girlfriend left him for a bandmate.

Mr Robillard began to lose touch with his fellow veteran, and could not understand the increasing violence of Page's political views.

'I asked him why he was aligning himself with this stuff,' he said. 'He really didn't answer. He would duck it.'

Page's mother Laura Lynn told the MailOnline that she has had no contact with her son since she and his father Jesse Alvin Page divorced.

She said: 'He was such a precious little boy, that's all I can say, he was a very fun-loving, typical little boy. He was just a very soft spoken, gentle young man.'

Asked if the army had changed her son, she said: 'I have no idea I had not been in contact with him that much. Actually in the last 12 years I have not been in contact with him at all since his dad and I divorced.

'I just found out this morning when another newspaper called me. Of course I'm devastated.

'My heart goes out to all the people who lost their loved ones, that's all I can say, I am so sorry.'

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that has studied hate crimes for decades, reported on Monday they had been tracking Page since 2000.

Also on Monday, a volunteer human-rights group called Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) found links between Page, his band and a white supremacist website called Stormfront, reported the Journal Sentinel.

Page moved to a duplex in the 3700 block of E. Holmes in Cudahy two weeks ago, which was cordoned off for a time on Sunday night as officials investigated inside, and residents were evacuated from their homes.

It is about six miles from the temple where the shooting took place.

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