A 40-year-old Army veteran and suspected white supremacist who gunned down six inside a Milwaukee-area Sikh temple shot the responding officer eight to nine times before he was killed by police, authorities said Monday. 
 
 Officials said the gunman, whom they identified as Wade Michael Page, walked into the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin on Sunday and opened fire with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun as several dozen people prepared for morning services. The victims ranged in age from 39 to 84, authorities said. Three others were wounded and remain in critical condition, including 51-year-old veteran police officer Brian Murphy. 
 
 Authorities said during a Monday press conference that there is no reason to believe anyone other than Page was involved in the shooting in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek. The FBI had shown a photo of a person wanted for questioning, but after talking with the man, he was not found to be tied to the shooting. 
 
 FBI Special Agent in Charge, Teresa Carlson, said a motive is still under investigation, and noted that authorities are looking at Page's "ties to white supremacist groups." 
 
 Carlson said the shooting is being investigated as a "possible act of terrorism." She said the suspect "had contact with law enforcement in the past," but said there was no reason to believe he was capable of such violence. 
 
 "Nobody knew that this guy was a threat," Carlson said. 
 
 Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards said police received a distress call at 10:25 a.m. from inside the temple. He said the shooting suspect ambushed and opened fire on Murphy, a 20-year veteran of the police force, after he showed up on scene and tried to help a victim outside. Murphy was shot by the suspect eight to nine times, Edwards said. 
 
 Other officers responding to the scene exchanged rounds of gunfire with the suspect before "putting the individual down," Edwards said. 
 
 Four people were found dead inside the temple, while three, including the suspected shooter, were found dead outside. The victims were identified Monday as Sita Singh, 41, Ranjit Singh, 49, Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65, Prakash Singh, 39, Paramjit Kaur, 41, and Suveg Singh, 84. 
 
 Sources close to the investigation told Fox News that Page was at one time attached to the Fort Bragg Army installation in North Carolina. 
 
 Authorities said Page enlisted in April 1992 and was discharged from the Army in 1998 "under honorable conditions," which is less than honorable discharge. While not as negative as a dishonorable discharge, such a release would preclude one from reenlisting or entering another military service, sources explained to Fox News. Reuters reported that the discharge was for "patterns of misconduct," including being drunk on duty. 
 
 Page served at Fort Bliss, Texas, in the psychological operations unit in 1994, and was last stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., attached to the psychological operations unit. He was an E4 psychological operations specialist, but was never deployed. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct award, the National Defense Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal and Parachutist Badge. 
 
 The shooting left the local Sikh community devastated. Sikhism, a monotheistic faith founded in South Asia more than 500 years ago, has roughly 27 million followers worldwide. Most are in India, though there are an estimated 500,000 in the U.S. Many Sikhs in the U.S. worship on Sundays at a temple, or gurdwara, and a typical service consists of meditation and singing in a prayer room where worshippers remove their shoes and sit on the floor. Worshippers gather afterward for a meal that is open to the entire community. 
 
 
 
 The Sikh Temple of Wisconsin started in 1997 with about 25 families who gathered in community halls in Milwaukee. Construction on the current temple in Oak Creek began in 2006, according to the temple's website. Sikh rights groups have reported a rise in bias attacks since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Washington-based Sikh Coalition has reported more than 700 incidents in the U.S. since 9/11, which advocates blame on anti-Islamic sentiment. Sikhs are not Muslims, but their long beards and turbans often cause them to be mistaken for Muslims, advocates say. 
 
 Satwant Singh Kaleka, president of the temple, was one of those killed. Sources told Fox News he attempted to tackle the suspect as he sprayed gunfire inside the temple. 
 
 A woman who says she was a neighbor of the suspect tells FoxNews.com that last week she heard yelling coming from the apartment she believes is the same one the FBI is now searching. 
 
 The neighbor says, as she understood it, the suspect had lived in the apartment with his girlfriend until their recent break-up. The suspect had then moved into another apartment nearby two weeks ago. She says he had returned to the old apartment and was banging on the door of his old apartment, demanding to be let in. The neighbor also said she believed the suspect had a 9-11 tattoo. 
 
 Another local resident Kurt Weins told the Journal Sentinel he rented out the upper flat of the duplex to a man in his 40s. 
 
 "I had him checked out and he definitely checked out," Weins told the newspaper. "The cops told me they don't want me to say nothing right now." 
 
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 Fox News' Justin Fishel, Mike Levine, Jana Winter and the Associated Press contributed to this report. ||||| The man who shot six people to death and wounded three others during a rampage at a Sikh temple in a Milwaukee suburb was an Army veteran who may have been a white supremacist, according to information from authorities and neighbors. 
 
 WASHINGTON -- The suspected gunman in the Sikh temple shooting was administratively discharged from the Army in 1998 after being demoted in rank, according to his military service record. 
 
 Federal officials on Monday identified Wade Michael Page as the slain attacker in a rampage that killed six people and left three others critically wounded at a house of worship in Oak Creek, Wis., on Sunday. Officials said Page was 40. 
 
 While in the Army, Page was demoted from sergeant to specialist and was not granted an honorable discharge when he left the service. A military official would not say why Page had been stripped of his rank or what negative marks on his record led the Army to disqualify him from an honorable discharge after his 6 1/2 years of service. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity and was not authorized to speak to the media on the matter. 
 
 PHOTOS: Gunman opened fire at Sikh temple 
 
 According to his record, Page joined the Army in April 1992 and did his initial training at Ft. Sill, Okla. He also was later posted to Ft. Bliss, Texas, and Ft. Bragg, N.C. 
 
 Page served as a repairman for the Hawk surface-to-air missile system and eventually trained as a psychological operations specialist. Army psychological operations units, or "psy-ops" units, study ways to trick the enemy in wartime and distribute information that will influence foreign populations. 
 
 Despite losing his rank, Page's service record shows commendations and medals for basic achievement, good conduct and "humanitarian service." He also earned a parachutist badge, commonly called "jump wings," for completing the Army Basic Airborne Course at Ft. Benning, Ga. 
 
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 brian.bennett@latimes.com ||||| NBC's John Yang reports from Oak Creek, Wisc., where a white, male Army veteran is the suspected gunman in a deadly shooting at a Sikh temple which claimed the lives of seven people. 
 
 Updated at 7:53 a.m. ET: The alleged gunman in Sunday’s killing rampage at a Sikh temple in southern Wisconsin is Wade Michael Page, authorities told NBC’s Pete Williams Monday. 
 
 Page, who served in the Army from April 1992 through October 1998, allegedly killed six people at the temple and wounded three before he was shot and killed. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Page is the former leader of a neo-Nazi music group called End Apathy. 
 
 Police say Page, 40, purchased the pistol used in the shooting within the past 10 days near his home. 
 
 A police officer called to the scene shot Page dead before he could fire on more worshippers as they prepared for Sunday services at the temple in the suburb of Oak Creek, south of Milwaukee. 
 
 Police searched Page’s apartment for clues early on Monday. The FBI said on Sunday that it had not determined a motive for the Sunday morning shooting. 
 
 Authorities said they were treating the attack as an act of domestic terrorism. 
 
 The names of the victims were not made public pending notification of relatives, although members said the president of the congregation and a priest were among the victims. 
 
 Authorities said Page had used a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, which was recovered at the scene. 
 
 Amardeep Kaleka tells TODAY's Matt Lauer that his community is at a "breaking point" after a gunman opened fire and killed his father and five other faithful inside a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. 
 
 Wisconsin has some of the most permissive gun laws in the country and had passed a law in 2011 allowing citizens to carry a concealed weapon. 
 
 Jagjit Singh Kaleka, the brother of the president of the temple, who was among the six Sikhs killed, said he had no idea what the motive was for the attack. 
 
 "But we know the more assault weapons we distribute the more situations like this we will have," he said. The U.S. had a ban on certain assault weapons but it expired in 2004. 
 
 Gunman opens fire at Sikh temple in Wisconsin; 7 dead 
 
 Early on Monday, police were searching an apartment at a duplex in the Cudahy neighborhood near Milwaukee, presumed to be the residence of the gunman. Generators and floodlights were set up along the street and a bomb squad was on the scene. 
 
 The attack came just over two weeks after a gunman killed 12 people at a theater in Aurora, Colorado, where they were watching a screening of new Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises." 
 
 In January 2011, a gunman killed six people in an attack on an event by then Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona. Giffords was shot in the head but survived. 
 
 Slideshow: Gunman opens fire at Sikh temple in Wisconsin Jeffrey Phelps / AP A gunman opened fire Sunday morning at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee, killing six people and wounding at least three others, including a police officer, before being shot to death, authorities said. Launch slideshow 
 
 American Sikhs said they have often been singled out for harassment, and occasionally violent attack, since the September 11, 2001 attacks because of their colorful turbans and beards. 
 
 9/11 tattoo? 
 
 The 2001 attacks were carried out by Muslims linked to the al-Qaida militant group led by Osama bin Laden. Sikhs are not Muslim but many Americans do not know the difference, members of the Sikh community said. 
 
 Tight-knight Sikh community shocked by shooting 
 
 Some witnesses to the Wisconsin shooting said the suspect had a tattoo marking the September 11, 2001 attacks. Authorities confirmed he had tattoos but said they were not sure exactly what the tattoos illustrated. 
 
 There are 500,000 or more Sikhs in the United States but the community in Wisconsin is small, about 2,500 to 3,000 families, said local Sikhs. 
 
 Police officials says that they are treating the shooting by a gunman that left 7 people dead, including the gunman, and 3 others injured, as a 'domestic terrorist incident.' 
 
 The Sikh faith is the fifth-largest in the world, with more than 30 million followers. It includes belief in one God and that the goal of life is to lead an exemplary existence. 
 
 The temple in Oak Creek was founded in October 1997 and has a congregation of 350 to 400 people. 
 
 "These people were going to church. Two weeks ago, it was people going to a movie. When is it going to end?" said Ray Zirkle, who came from Racine, Wisconsin with his wife to light votive candles near the site of the shooting. 
 
 A mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisc., leaves seven dead, including the suspected gunman, and three wounded, including an ambushed police officer. NBC's John Yang reports. 
 
 On Sunday evening, hundreds gathered in downtown Milwaukee to hold a vigil of for the victims of the shootings, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. 
 
 Participants stood in a circle, prayed and lit candles at the event held at Cathedral Square, and one-by-one people made unscripted statements to the group, according to the newspaper. 
 
 Tom Lynn / Reuters People gather in downtown Milwaukee at a vigil for the victims of Sunday's shooting in a Sikh temple in nearby Oak Creek, Wis. 
 
 One man recited "The Lord's Prayer." 
 
 "This isn't about the city of Oak Creek, we are all responsible," another said, while a third declared: "I'm an atheist and I stand behind every peace loving religion," the newspaper reported. 
 
 Members of the Sikh community attended the vigil, the Journal reported. 
 
 "It was same as 9/11," Manpreet Kaur, who attended the vigil with her husband and two daughters, told the newspaper. "My mother-in-law and father-in-law thought that it's not safe for you to go in your turban today." 
 
 Reuters contributed to this report. 
 
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– More is emerging on suspected Sikh temple gunman Wade Michael Page: The white supremacist and former Army soldier was demoted in rank and discharged in 1998, the LA Times reports. A military official didn't say why Page received a general discharge rather than an honorable one after 6 1/2 years of service. But a dishonorable discharge would have stopped him from buying the 9mm handgun he purchased July 28, picked up July 30, and used days later in the shooting, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Among other emerging details: Lt. Brian Murphy, 51, was the first officer on the scene. He came upon a victim in the temple parking lot and was ambushed by Page, who shot him eight or nine times. When other officers arrived, Page fired on them and was killed by a policeman with a rifle. Murphy remains in critical condition. Authorities said this morning they were trying to identify a white male who was a "person of interest." But FBI officials said later he was not relevant to the case. Page was quiet and "not a friendly guy," said a neighbor. "You'd have more fun with a camel. He was very quiet. You'd say hi and he'd kind of 'uh.' It was like he didn't care if you were talking or not." Page's grandmother, Elaine Lenz, called Page a good grandson who gave her a dozen roses last month "just to tell me he loved me," she said. "I'm sorry he has caused so much trouble."