On The Ground In Milwaukee: The Oak Creek Shooting

Mods please feel free to move this to the appropriate forum if posted here in error.

Well I am back in America, sent out yesterday after the shooting in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek. Since I went to university in Milwaukee I was told to get on a plane and start fact-finding here on the story for my news organization, it looks like I'm going to miss the rest of the Olympics but here are some things I've found out since arriving early this morning local time that have not been widely reported to my knowledge and to give some flavor to the story:

First, immediately after the shooting yesterday someone claiming to be an eye-witness and son of one of those shot posted information on the internet that a 4 person hit squad carried out the attack and it was a false-flag. This has been widely disputed by both local officials and people in Oak Creek. I am trying to find out more about the person who posted the information but his uploads came online long before the Sikhs who were at the scene left, and to my knowledge he posted no proof that he was at the scene at all.

Second, the reports of a second shooter came mainly from the fact that the shooter was mobile and quickly moved from the building interior to the exterior according to law enforcement. Oak Creek police say they responded quickly to the attack and were there within minutes of the first call, but there is a bit of a discrepancy with that as many inside the building say it took far longer for police to enter the building. My sources say this is because they had to wait for SWAT units to arrive before they cleared the building itself.

Third, The Milwaukee area is surprisingly quiet considering what happened yesterday. I have heard reports from a few civilians that there was increased police presence in the city yesterday, including federal agents patrolling the downtown area, but this has been claimed to just be normal procedure by officials. Today, moving through the city I noticed nothing out of the ordinary at all. The city proper seems to be functioning normally, and without increased overt policing except in the crime scene area and in a small part of Cudahy (another Milwaukee suburb) where police and federal agents were conducting their investigation last night.

Fourth, The second person of interest being sought by police seems to be based upon circumstantial evidence and is not directly related to the shooting. He is believed to also be another white supremacist and former military person, has a similar tattoo to the one on the suspected shooter and was seen at the scene taking video on a smart phone of the aftermath. He is hoped, by law enforcement sources, to possibly know the motive of the attack. Information on him is sketchy at best and it does not seem that local police have a good idea of who he is or what his connection to the suspected shooter was as of this morning.

Fifth, There is a sense of outrage among those in the Milwaukee punk community due to the fact that the alleged shooter fronted a Nazi Skinhead punk/metal band. There have been calls among the general punk community to purge the Milwaukee area of what some see as a growing number of Nazi Skins in the city, and there are rumors of upcoming fights and violence between the punks and the Nazis after the attack.

Sixth, The suspected shooter, a Wade Michael Page, has been widely reported upon by the media, but there seem to be a few inaccuracies there too. First off it has been stated in many sources that he does not have a criminal record, yet the Oak Creek police have a mug shot of him, very much alive and before he was shot at the scene by police. Next, for some reason the FBI leaked information the CNN and CBS last night that he was suspect because of a "9-11 tattoo" yet looking at photos of the man, he is covered in Nazi tattoos which should be much more telling than one having to do with 9-11. It should be noted entirely though that every media outlet and all law enforcement are not painting his military record well, he was found to be drinking on duty and apparently there were "other infractions" which the police will not comment on yet and I haven't had time to look into myself yet.

Seventh, Local reporters here have told me that the weapon found on the alleged shooter was legally purchased by Page in another Milwaukee suburb and he was fully licensed to own it. Police will not comment on it other than that it was a 9mm. Ballistics have not yet come back on the bullets fired in the shooting as of this morning.

Finally and most interestingly I think, People involved with the Sikh temple reported that they have noticed people watching the site for at least the past week if not more, and pointed out that the suspected shooter was among them. However, I find it particularly interesting that they all said it was multiple people, not just the Page.

Alright, so I am here, will be for a few days at least so if any of you have any questions I will try to get them answered to the best of my ability when I can. It's been a long day already though and I've still got some more foot work to do, but I will be around.

The big thing I am noticing walking around town here is that this is not a city that is in fear. I've been in a lot of cities where there were terrorist attacks, wars and disasters. This is totally different. Milwaukee seems a bit sadder than usual, although last time I was here was 2 years ago while the protests were going on in Madison, so that is just an opinion. It seems that the people here have bought the official line, which I am still a bit skeptical on.

I feel that the FBI hasn't handled this as well as they could, but it is still very early too. Again the guy was on a hate watch list by the Southern Poverty Law Center and had had run ins with local police in the Milwaukee area as well as in Colorado, but the FBI seems totally in the dark on him other than that he's "some neo-Nazi punk." I am not going to attribute that quote to any individual but it is direct, and not taken out of context. They also seem to know less about the person of interest even than the people here on ATS, which says good things about ATS but is a bit surprising about the FBI.

Local police departments have also seemed very surprised when the FBI flips the media back to them for comment too, like there is not a good line of communication. The FBI didn't comment on the gun other than that it was a 9mm, and told reporters to go to the Oak Creek PD for comment. The police then seemed surprised and the first person I talked to questioned even who is in possession of the gun at this moment saying she thought the FBI took it as part of their investigation.

I am going to "hit the bar" as they say here with some old friends including a sheriff deputy, and I will keep an ear open of course to see what people are talking about here, if there are any more rumors or leads to follow.

Again if there is anything you'd like for me to try to find out, or follow up on, please ask and I will see what I can do.

reply to post by ProjectJimmy


I'm really concerned about the second person of interest that was supposedly cleared. He seemed out of place....any ID on the guy??? The fact that he also has a 9-11 tattoo seems too coincidental (though I don't want to pass judgment because I know a lot of people have tattoos comemmorating 9-11). I know authorities have cleared him, but I have yet to see a name or a report of why he was there...have you found anything?