Gunman shoots up Sikh Temple in Wisconsin.

bobabode · #1 08-05-2012, 04:21 PM

Kills six members and is killed by a police officer who was shot himself several times. The unnamed as yet police officer is in surgery as I post this. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and families of what is being described as a hate crime at this early stage. The gunman was described as white and unknown to church goers. No word on the particular weapon used in these latest murders.

Why can't we reduce the availability of firearms in this country? How about a much more stringent background check? What about a mental stability test of some sort before being allowed to purchase a gun and/or ammo? It's becoming abundantly clear to me that the rights of gun owners are riding roughshod over the rest of the countries right to be free of being shot and killed.

Members of the Sikh faith have been mistaken for Muslims and found themselves targets of the racist element in our population after 9/11 on several occasions. Those that think that racism is a thing of the past only need see the headlines to see this is not true. Whether it happens in Wisconsin or closer to home in Anaheim with the city police flipping out on demonstrators after at least one unprovoked shooting and subsequent coup de grace murder of a suspect, racism is still huge in America. We are far from being a color blind nation, which we should be.

Oerets · #2 08-05-2012, 04:51 PM

Tragic event to be sure. To early really to know much more then at least one with a gun attacked the people inside the Temple.

Barney

bobabode · #3 08-05-2012, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oerets

Tragic event to be sure. To early really to know much more then at least one with a gun attacked the people inside the Temple.

Barney

Here's a link with more info Barney. Eyewitness describes gunman as white outsider. Terrible story.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012...in-7-dead?lite

beej · #4 08-06-2012, 03:33 AM

Story still unfolding. Apparently the shooter ambushed a police officer who was rendering aid to a victim. The shooter then either opened fire on a second police officer or was engaged by that police officer. Either way, the second officer put him down.

Dondilion · #5 08-06-2012, 07:40 AM

To be mistaken for muslims......jeesh! It happens so often to these people.

whell · #6 08-06-2012, 07:50 AM

Looks like the shooter was an army veteran. Very sad story all the way around. Two months. Two headline-grabbing public shootings. WTF?

Boreas · #7 08-06-2012, 10:08 AM

The shooter has now been identified as a 40 year old Army veteran named Wade Michael Page. It's being reported by Reuters, NPR and the Christian Science Monitor, and perhaps some others, that Page is a member, and perhaps the leader, of a white supremacist neo-Nazi group called "End Apathy".

So, maybe we don't have a case of "mistaken identity" here. Page may have targeted the Sikhs simply because they're non-white.

When will enough finally be enough?

John

finnbow · #8 08-06-2012, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boreas

The shooter has now been identified as a 40 year old Army veteran named Wade Michael Page. It's being reported by Reuters, NPR and the Christian Science Monitor, and perhaps some others, that Page is a member, and perhaps the leader, of a white supremacist neo-Nazi group called "End Apathy".

So, maybe we don't have a case of "mistaken identity" here. Page may have targeted the Sikhs simply because they're non-white.

When will enough finally be enough?

John

Maybe this shooting will end apathy with regard to our gun laws and the hard-line right wing rhetoric. But, I'm not counting on it.