White Terrorist Kills Seven at Sikh Temple in Wisconsin: Witnesses fear community was targeted in hate crime

Another White Man Goes Off: In photo an Oak Creek police officer, speaks with members of the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek following a mass shooting inside and outside the Sikh Temple. They are probably not talking about how the killer acquired his guns -  but the media will blame the guns. No photo or other info has been released about the white man who did this. From [HERE] and [HERE] At least seven people have been killed after a gunman opened fire at a Sikh Temple Sunday in a Milwaukee suburb, according to reports. According to the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, the dead include the man authorities believe was the lone shooter. He was described as a white man in his 30s who was bald or balding with a heavy build in a sleeveless T-shirt. People inside the temple claimed they saw multiple gunmen, so police have continued to sweep the area as far out as a mile away, according to CNN.

At a press conference, Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards said they were treating the attack as a "domestic terrorist-type incident", and that the FBI would take over the criminal investigation. [MORE]  The shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin will place new focus on a religion that is the fifth largest religion in the world with 27 million adherents, but it is one of the smallest faiths practiced in the US.

'Mistaken for Muslims'

There are an estimated 250,000 Sikhs in the US. About 3,000 Sikh families live in southeastern Wisconsin, according to local reports. Local Sikhs had met in a rented space on the south side of Milwaukee until 2007 when the Oak Creek Gurudwara, as Sikh temples are known, was built. The 17,500 square-foot Gurudwara has parking for a hundred cars. Sikhism was founded in South Asia more than 500 years ago. Observant Sikhs do not cut their hair, and male followers often cover their heads with turbans and refrain from shaving their beards.

Members of the Sikh community in the US were physically attacked after the 9/11 terrorist attacks by racists who were also attacking America's Arab and Muslim communities. Witnesses to the shooting on Sunday have expressed fears that once again their community may have been targeted as part of a hate crime.

One of the temple's committee members, Ven Boba Ri, told Milwaukee's Journal Sentinel that people inside the temple had described the gunman as a white male in his 30s. 

"We have no idea," he said of the motive. "It's pretty much a hate crime. It's not an insider." Ri said the man walked up to a priest who was standing outside and shot him. Then he went inside and started shooting.

"It's sad, I don't know how to describe it," said Ri. "Sikhism is such a peaceful religion. We have suffered for generations, in India and even here."

"We're all the same," temple member Jaswinder Schandock told the Journal. "Everybody has the same blood."

State representative Josh Zepnick and district attorney John Chisholm visited the Oak Creek Temple last year after calls from local Sikhs whose businesses had been targeted by robbers and vandals. Zepnick said: "It's unacceptable that they, or any law-abiding business owner, be the target of what appears to be an escalating pattern against certain businesses and segments of the population."

As witnesses to the Oak Creek attack worried that there may have been a racial motive to the attack, the New York police department said Sunday that it was stepping up protection of Sikh community.

The Joint Terrorism Task Force, a collection of federal, state and local law enforcement, was called in to Oak Creek on Sunday. While the task force's main job is combating terrorism it also responds to mass shootings and it is not yet clear how this tragedy will eventually be categorized.