FBI launches investigation into Gurdwara shooting

The Federal Bureau of Investigation launched an in-depth probe into the shooting incident that unfolded at around 10:30 pm IST last night as members of the Sikh community were gathering at the 15-year-old Gurudwara in Milwaukee’s Oak Creek suburb.

The army veteran gunman,who has been described to be in 40’s and who could be a “skin head” or “white supremacist”,walked into the Gurdwara and opened indiscriminate firing,killing six people,leading to speculation that the incident could be a case of racism.

In total three people were injured in the incident. The mayhem could have engulfed more people but for local police officers who shot dead the gunman,having many tattoos including a 9/11 one,even as one of them suffered serious wounds.

“It is the most deadly US attack on Sikhs – who often have been mistaken for Muslims and targeted in hate crimes – in recent memory,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said.

FBI,who did not identify the shooter said it is yet to identify the motive behind the senseless killing.

“While the FBI is investigating whether this matter might be an act of domestic terrorism,no motive has been determined at this time,” the FBI Milwaukee Special Agent-in-Charge Teresa Carlson said in a statement.

Fox News said,”Sources identified the dead suspect as Wade Michael Page,who was at one time attached to the Fort Bragg Army installation in North Carolina”. The FBI is working closely with the Oak Creek Police Department and other local and federal agencies to investigate yesterday’s shooting incident,Carlson said.

“We know our community has been deeply impacted by this incident,and our thoughts are with those affected and particularly with the officer who was wounded in the line of duty to protect others,” the FBI said.

Tattoos on the body of the slain gunman and certain biographical details led the FBI to treat the attack at a Milwaukee-area temple as an act of domestic terrorism,Los Angeles Times said quoting sources. Eyewitness have said that the shooter had a “9/11” tattoo.

Few details emerged about the man whose Cudahy duplex apartment was searched by police hours after the shooting.

The owner of the house that was searched described the tenant as a white,single,in his 40s and an Army veteran,the Journal Sentinel said.

ABC News as well as CNN,citing unnamed sources,said they were told that the shootings were the work of a “white supremacist” or “skinhead”.

The US assured India that the tragic incident will be fully investigated,Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao said.

She said the US Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan spoke to her from White House yesterday to convey “sincerest condolences” from US President Barack Obama.

“Mr Brennan assured me these tragic killings would be fully investigated,that Sikh community is precious part of fabric of American nation,” she wrote on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

Gurudwara shooting: Badal writes to PM

In the wake of the shooting incident at a gurudwara in the US,Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take up with the Obama administration the issue of safety and security of Sikhs living in America.

Badal also called for a comprehensive administrative and social campaign to eliminate the possibility of recurrence of such tragic incidents.

Deputy Chief Minister and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal asked the External Affairs ministry to widen its diplomatic response to cover other nations where the Sikhs were residing and contributing in a significant way to their progress.

In a letter to the Prime Minister,the Chief Minister said “there is a growing feeling in the minds of Punjabis in general and Sikhs in particular that the Union government must get more actively and vigorously involved in getting the US administration address the issue of safety in right earnest.”

“There is also a strong feeling among the Sikh masses about the need for a comprehensive awareness campaign by the US government about the identity and the highly constructive role of the Sikh community in that country,” he said.

“Such an initiative should have been taken immediately after violent attacks against members of the Sikh community in the wake of 9/11. Unfortunately,no steps in this direction seem to have been taken,” the Chief Minister said.

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh condemned the shooting incident and hoped the US government would punish the guilty at the earliest.

The SGPC,apex religious body of the Sikhs,described the shooting as a condemnable criminal act and urged the Prime Minister to take up with authorities the issue of saftey of the minority community.

A gunman opened fire inside a gurudwara in Wisconsin in the US yesterday killing six people.

In his letter,the Chief Minister said members of the Sikh community had been living peacefully in various parts of the world,including the US,for centuries.

The community had an enviable record of enriching the social,cultural and economic life in the countries of their adoption,he said.

The Sikhs in America had been in the vanguard of social and economic progress of the country,the Chief Minister said.

“The tragic incident in the gurudwara is all the more painful and difficult to understand in the background of the outstanding role played by the peaceful Sikh community in the American success story,” he said.

Detailing steps required to be taken for instilling a sense of security among the Sikhs,the Chief Minister said “there are two issues that require effective and pro-active response from the government of India.”

“The first,of course,is the immediate task of dealing with the aftermath of Sunday’s tragedy.

“Apart from tracking down the culprits and getting to the root of the crime and understanding the dynamics behind it,there is an equally important and urgent need to provide relief to affected families,” the Chief Minister said.

He said “there is an equally significant larger question of safety and security of the Sikhs in that country on a long-term basis.”

“What worries me and everyone else here is that in the past also,there have been instances of the Sikh community being made the target of hate and violence,” the CM said.

“There is an urgent need for the government of India to stress upon its US counterpart the importance of ensuring adequate security at Sikh shrines while keeping in mind the equally sensitive dimension of preserving the sanctity of their religious places.”

The Deputy Chief Minister sought status inputs from the rank and file and office-bearers of the NRI wing of the party about the issues facing the Punjabis in general and the Sikhs in particular in the lands of their adoption.

Expressing shock and grief over the Sunday’s incident,Amarinder said “the Sikhs are a peace-loving community and it is tragic and unfortunate that they are targeted in such a dastardly manner”.

He appealed to the US authorities to ensure that the guilty were brought to the book.

In Amritsar,Sikhs from different walks of life met SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar to express concern over the incident.

They requested Makkar to adopt a constructive line of action to extend help to affected Sikhs in US.

Makkar offered financial help of Rs two lakh each to the two Sikh preachers killed in the shooting.

Condmening the shooting,Akal Takht head priest Gurbachan Singh said “this is a security lapse on the part of the US government.

He said he had directed the SGPC president to send a special team of Sikhs to the US to investigate the cause of the attack.