U.S. Sikh temple shooting an act of 'domestic terrorism'

Police in Oak Creek, Wisc., say seven people died in a shooting Sunday at a Sikh temple just south of Milwaukee.

At a late afternoon news conference, Police Chief John Edwards said his officers had “stopped this from becoming worse than it could have been."

Edwards said when his officers arrived one person was discovered "down" and the officer attending to the person was ambushed and shot several times but is expected to recover. A second officer then fatally shot the suspect.

He said the FBI is investigating the shooting as a "domestic terrorist incident." Edwards said no one was left inside the building.

"I don't have demographics, I don't have any numbers for you," said Edwards.

Earlier, officials said four of the dead were inside the temple while three where outside, one of whom was the shooter.

Another news conference is slated for Monday morning.

Greenfield Police Chief Brad Wentlandt said earlier that several 911 calls were made around 10:25 a.m. local time. Greenfield is a neighbouring community.

By late afternoon, tactical teams were doing a sweep of the temple and grounds after securing the site.

Dozens of people were reportedly inside hiding in the aftermath of the shooting.

There were conflicting reports about the number of wounded. Lee Biblo, chief medical officer of Froedtert Hospital, told CNN it received three male patients. Froedtert is the main trauma centre in the community, located about 20 kilometres south of Milwaukee.

Biblo said the three are all adults; two were shot in the face and one in the abdomen. One is the injured police officer. They are all reported in critical condition.

During the chaos, people inside the temple were calling and sending text messages to people outside.

By the mid-afternoon, local reports said police had gathered witnesses in the basement of the temple and were interviewing them and gradually releasing them. Some were taken to a nearby bowling alley to be interviewed as well.

Sukhwindar Nagr called his brother-in-law's phone and a priest at the temple answered. Nagr says the priest told him that his brother-in-law had been shot, along with some priests.

The temple was due to have its weekly community midday lunch on Sunday — usually 300 to 400 people show up.

Original Article
Source: CBC
Author: cbc