Crime & Safety

Oak Creek Officers Honored at White House

The eight officers who responded to the Sikh temple shooting were among the honorees at a White House ceremony Saturday morning.

The eight Oak Creek police officers working the morning shift of Aug. 5, when a gunman attacked the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin and killed six of its members, were honored at a White House ceremony Saturday morning.

Brian Murphy, Sam Lenda, John Finco, Julie Grauberger, Dean Kleinhans, Michael Schultz, Derick Slamka and Kelly Romel were among the recipients of the TOP COPS award, presented by the National Association of Police Organizations, according to a Journal Sentinel report.

The newspaper reported they met personally with President Barack Obama following the ceremony.

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Remarking on the actions of Murphy, the president said:

When a gunman opened fire on a temple in Wisconsin and Brian was the first to arrive, he did not consider his own safety.He fought back until help arrived and ordered his fellow officers, who are here today, to protect the safety of the Americans worshiping inside -- even though he was lying there bleeding from 12 bullet wounds.  When he was asked how he did it, he said, “That’s just the way we’re made.”

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That’s what you’ve got to do. That's what you've got to be made of to take down homicide suspects in Los Angeles or Vegas, or shooters in Miami or Indiana or Chicago or Iowa -- saving untold numbers of lives.  That’s what you’ve got to be made of to dodge live power lines during Hurricane Sandy to free your partner pinned down by a tree, all the while saying, “I’ve got you, pal.”

Murphy was the first officer to arrive at the scene and took 15 gunshots from the shooter, Wade Michael Page. Lenda arrived next and hit Page in the stomach with a rifle shot, sending him to the ground. Page then took his own life.

Related coverage: Police release dash cam video from the Sikh temple shooting

Also honored on Saturday were law-enforcement personnel from police departments in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami-Dade, Indiana, Las Vegas, Henderson, Nevada, Houston, and New York City, according to Bloomberg.

For archived coverage of the Sikh temple shootings, check out Patch's special section.


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