By Brendan O’Brien
OAK CREEK, Wis., Aug 12 (Reuters) – Hundreds of people
gathered on Sunday at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin for the first
public service there since a white supremacist gunned down six
people at the temple exactly a week earlier.
They prepared and ate a traditional meal and raised the
Nashan Sahib, the Sikh flag, before the prayer service on the
same grounds where Wade Michael Page, 40, went on a shooting
rampage last Sunday and then killed himself.
“A coward came into destroy us … and to start a race war,
but he came to the wrong place, because it brought us closer
together,” said Amardeep Kaleka, whose father, Satwant Singh
Kaleka, the temple’s president, was killed by Page.
Page, a U.S. Army veteran with links to racist groups, also
killed Sita Singh, 41; Ranjit Singh, 49; Prakash Singh, 39;
Paramjit Kaur, 41; and Suveg Singh, 84. He injured four others,
including a police officer who responded to the scene.
Investigators have not determined why Page targeted the Sikh
temple.
The procession into the temple’s main room led worshippers
past a bullet hole in a metal door jam. Below it, a small plaque
said, “We Are One” and “8-5-12.”
(Editing By Corrie MacLaggan)
