OAK CREEK, Wisc., (Reuters) – A shooting during Sunday services at a Sikh temple left at least seven people dead, including a gunman, and at least three critically wounded, police and hospital officials said.
Four people were shot inside the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in suburban Milwaukee and three outside, including a gunman killed by a police officer, said Greenfield Police Chief Bradley Wentlandt.
“This is the best information we have, and this information may change,” he told reporters outside the temple.
Smiran Kaleka, the niece of one of the wounded men, said an unknown number of gunmen walked into the kitchen of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek about 10:30 a.m. CDT (1530 GMT) and started shooting. She said her mother had told her the shooters were white men.
Nalissa Wienke, a spokeswoman for Froedtert & Medical College Hospital, said three men had been brought in wounded and were in critical condition. One was in the operating room, she said.
The 20-year veteran officer who exchanged fire with the gunman was hit several times, Wentlandt said. He was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive.
Witnesses said hostages were being held inside the temple but police did not confirm this.
A man who said his father had been wounded in the incident reported that there had been multiple shooters of Caucasian descent, quoting people inside the temple. “It was a very coordinated thing,” the man, identified as Amardeep Kaleka, told police.
Police, ambulances and firefighters from Oak Creek and other localities were on the scene at the temple.
“How sick do you have to be to walk into a church and shoot it up?” said Smiran Kaleka.
