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Reports from the Scene of Shooting at Sikh Temple

By JENNIFER PRESTON

A gunman walked into a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee on Sunday and killed six worshipers preparing for a morning service, law enforcement officials said. The gunman was also killed.

After multiple 911 calls at 10:25 a.m., the first police officer who arrived at the temple exchanged fire with the gunman in the parking lot, putting him down, police said. A 20-year-law enforcement veteran, the officer was shot multiple times and was in surgery at a nearby hospital, officials said. At least two other people were critically wounded in the shooting.

In a video from the scene, a distraught woman said she believed her brother-in-law was shot inside. She told a reporter from The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We never thought this would happen,” she said. “Our church is a safe place. We have been here for 34 years.”

Witnesses reported multiple gunmen, but law enforcement officials said on Sunday afternoon they believe there may have been only one gunman. But they did not rule out others may be involved as SWAT teams continued to search the 17,000-square foot temple, where they found terrified worshipers hiding in closets and bathrooms.

After the shooting began, frantic posts on Twitter asked people not to call loved ones on their cellphone if trapped inside the temple.

The Journal-Sentinel reports that a police SWAT team entered the building before noon and brought uninjured people out of the building on Howell Avenue and began removing injured people from the temple's prayer room.

Police later said that at least four people were killed inside the temple and three people in the parking lot, including the gunman.

Thirty ambulances and tactical teams responded to the scene and nearby hospitals were put on alert to be ready to treat mass casualties.

Kyle Maichle took multiple photos at the scene.

Th e Oak Creek Patch reports that a member of the temple said: “We are shocked. We are a peaceful people.”