New Documents Shed Light on Temple Shooter's Behavior Before Attack

An unsealed FBI search warrant has shed new light on temple shooter Wade Michael Page's activity prior to the Aug. 5 shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek.

According to a Journal Sentinel report, Page used the Internet to grow increasingly radical in his white supremacist views, becoming heavily interested in conspiracy theories and videos.

It's unclear from the documents exactly what he was looking at, the newspaper reported, but his girlfriend was "disturbed" by his Internet activity prior to the end of their relationship in June 2012. 

The FBI search warrant says the Internet "continues to serve as the primary radicalization instrument, used to recruit teenagers and young adults into the radical skinhead movement," according to the Journal Sentinel.

Page killed six Oak Creek Sikh temple members the morning of Aug. 5 and wounded three others. He was confronted in the parking lot by Oak Creek police and seriously injured one officer before a second officer hit Page with a rifle shot. Page then died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Previous coverage:

• Report traces temple shooter's history
• FBI announces end of temple shooting investigation
• Laguna Beach Patch: Page had ties to Orange County's white-power rock scene
• FBI still searching for answers about Wade Michael Page
• Police: Gunman in Oak Creek Sikh temple shooting acted alone

The FBI closed its investigation into the shooting in November, saying Page acted alone in the shooting but a motive will likely never be known.

The 40-year-old Army veteran had a long history with white supremacist groups, according to a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center released last November. His time at Fort Bragg in the mid-1990s drove him deep into neo-Nazi ways, and over the years he became active in the white-power music scene, according to the SPLC report.

He moved to South Milwaukee to be with his girlfriend in the fall of 2011, which was about the same time he became a full member of the Hammerskin Nation, described in the report as one of the most violent and dominant skinhead groups in the United States.

His girlfriend, Misty Cook, also had ties to white supremacist culture. She worked a few blocks away from the Sikh temple at the Prime Table Family Restaurant.