There’s been another mass shooting, this time at a Sikh Temple in a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and at least at this moment, it appears that there’s an on-going hostage situation and multiple gunmen:
At least four people were shot just after 10 a.m. Sunday at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, and a police SWAT team entered the building before noon and brought uninjured people out of the building at 7512 S. Howell Ave.
Moments ago, they started removing injured people from the temple’s prayer room.
SWAT team members were still sweeping the building about 1 p.m. and an explosion was heard from the building at that time.
The first officer on the scene encountered an active shooter and exchanged fire with him, according to Greenfield Police Chief Bradley Wentlandt.
The shooter went down and the officer was hit multiple times, but is expected to survive, said Wentland, who is acting as police spokesman for the incident.
Among those who were shot was the president of the temple, Satwant Kaleka, who was taken to a hospital.
Deepinder Dhaliwal said Kaleka, his brother in law, was shot in the back, but has now been taken to a hospital in St. Francis.
Dhaliwal said his sister, the president’s wife, called him while hiding inside the building with a few other women.
People were in the temple as early as 6:30 a.m. Sunday and many more were arriving for a service that was to begin about 11:30 a.m.
There were reports that children were taken away from the area of the building where the shooting took place after shots were fired.
Someone who sent a text message to a Journal Sentinel reporter shortly before noon said that there were two shooters with children possibly as hostages.
And the head priest was locked inside a restroom with a cell phone and that there were as many as 20 to 30 victims.
One of the temple’s committee members, Ven Boba Ri, said that based on communication with people inside the temple, the shooter was 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.”
According to Ri, the man started shooting after he walked up to a priest who was standing outside, and shot him.
Then he went inside and started shooting.
People inside the temple were using cell phones to call people outside, saying please send help, Ri said.
The Oak Creek Police Chief has told the press that a gunman was taken down outside the temple by a police officer who was also wounded in the firefight but was expected to live. However, people on the scene who have heard from relatives still inside the temple and communicating by cell phone or text message (apparently in hiding) are saying that there are multiple gunmen.
It’s far too early to know what this is all about, but it’s worth remembering that, in the wake of the September 11th attacks Sikh men became the targets of attacks because of their practice of wearing turbans and growing long beards leading some less-enlightened people to mistake them for Muslim.
Updates as warranted.
Update: The Oak Creek, Wisc. Police Chief just finished a press briefing where he reported seven people dead, four of them inside the temple, three outside the temple including someone believed to have been a gunman. The reports of multiple gunmen have not been confirmed, but there was no discussion about the people who may still be inside the building.
Update: An updated article from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
At least seven people were killed, including one shooter, just after 10 a.m. Sunday at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, police said.
Four of the dead were inside the temple at 7512 S. Howell Ave. and three of the dead, including a shooter, were outside the temple.
A police SWAT team entered the building before noon and brought uninjured people out of the building at 7512 S. Howell Ave.
They started removing injured people from the temple’s prayer room.
SWAT team members were still sweeping the building about 1 p.m. and an explosion was heard from the building at that time. It was unclear what the explosion was.
The first officer on the scene encountered an active shooter and exchanged fire with him, according to Greenfield Police Chief Bradley Wentlandt who briefed media on the scene.
The shooter went down and is believed to be dead, said Wentlandt, who is acting as police spokesman for the incident. He said authorities had no evidence of a second shooter.
Wentlandt said the officer was hit multiple times, but is expected to survive. He said the officer was a 20-year veteran and “an extremely accomplished tactical officer.” He was taken to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa where he was in surgery just before 2 p.m.
Among those who were shot was the president of the temple, Satwant Kaleka, who was taken to a hospital.
There were apparently upwards of 50 people inside the temple when the shooter arrived. Had he arrived an hour later when services were set to begin and other activities were taking place, there would have been as many as 300-400 people there. The police apparently have control over the temple, which is quite a large facility at 17,000 square feet, and are questioning the survivors. The further we go on, the less likely it seems that there were multiple gunmen involved here.
The next question, of course, will be motive, but that will likely have to wait until the gunman is identified and his residence is searched.
