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7 Dead In Shooting At Sikh Temple

GUY RAZ, HOST:

It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz.

Our cover story today: Could Asian-American voters swing the election? We'll have that in a few minutes, but first to some breaking news out of Wisconsin. A shooting this morning at a Sikh temple outside Milwaukee has left seven people dead. Among them the suspected gunman, shot by a police officer. Police are now treating the incident as a case of possible domestic terrorism. The mayor of Oak Creek, Steve Scaffidi, spoke out earlier.

MAYOR STEVE SCAFFIDI: The city of Oak Creek is outraged by the senseless act of violence that happened in our city today. And our thoughts and prayers go out to those victims.

RAZ: Joining us now from Oak Creek, Wisconsin, is Milwaukee Public Radio's Latoya Dennis. And, Latoya, you've been on the scene there for several hours. What can you tell us about what happened?

LATOYA DENNIS, BYLINE: Well, what we know is that around 10:25, there were several 911 calls about the gunman at the Sikh in Oak Creek just south of Milwaukee. There were reports of multiple gunmen, but police are saying now that they do believe it was only one gunman and that basically they're getting reports of multiple shooters just because people, you know, had different vantage points.

What they're saying right now is that they do believe it was that one shooter (unintelligible) it's still on the scene, and that's because they're trying to ensure that this area is safe and that there was (unintelligible) only the one gunman who was deceased who was shot by a police officer.

RAZ: What is the scene like there outside the temple?

DENNIS: Outside of the temple a little earlier, there may be 50 to 100, maybe even more members of this community who have come here, and they were all just waiting for answers and wondering, you know, how something like this could happen in a little city like Oak Creek, Wisconsin. But they're starting dissipate now. The crowd is starting to break up. And people seem sad, and they seem angry. And they're wondering why and how an - who would do something like this?

RAZ: Latoya, what do we know about the shooter or motives?

DENNIS: No motives are being talked about at this point. The police would not comment on the criminal investigation. What they are saying is that the FBI will take over and that they will be assisted with local police - by local police departments. And they're also saying that this is being treated as an incident of domestic terrorism.

RAZ: And what are we expected to find out more about what happened there?

DENNIS: Well, there'll be another press conference tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m., and there will not be any updates until then. At this point, police say that crime scene technicians are coming in, and the medical examiner's office will come in and they'll get to notifying families.

RAZ: That's Milwaukee Public Radio's Latoya Dennis joining us from Oak Creek, Wisconsin, the site of that shooting at a Sikh temple. Latoya, thank you.

DENNIS: Thank you.

RAZ: And stay with NPR for the latest on that story. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.