Shooting at Sikh temple in US, at least 7 dead

At least seven people were killed in shootings at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee, United States on Sunday. The shootings took place at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. Greenfield Police Chief Brad Wentlandt said multiple 911 calls were received this morning about a gunman or gunmen. He said the first police officer responding to the calls engaged an active shooter at the temple. The officer was shot multiple times, but returned fire, and the suspect, Wentlandt said, was “put down”. Wentlandt said emergency medical personnel had identified seven people dead – four inside the temple and three outside, including the suspect. The police officer was transported to a nearby hospital, where he is in surgery. Wentlandt said the officer, a 20-year veteran, is expected to survive. Police are currently engaged in a tactical sweep to assess whether additional shooters remain inside the temple, and have asked the media to refrain from reporting on or transmitting images of police operations in the area. A spokeswoman for Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, the main trauma centre in the area, said doctors there were treating three victims of the shooting. Spokeswoman Carolyn Bellin said the three were all men. One was in the operating room, another was in a surgical intensive care unit, and the third was being evaluated in the emergency room. Belliin said the hospital was prepared to receive more patients from the shooting, but did not know if more will be on the way. There was no victim count at the time of the filing of the report. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel was reporting that between 20 and 30 people were shot, and that hostages were being held, according to a text message sent to a Journal Sentinel reporter. There were more than a dozen ambulances parked outside the temple, and police had corralled media and a handful of bystanders to clear out from the area near the temple. Sukhwindar Nagr, of Racine, was quoted assaying he called his brother-in-law’s phone and a priest at the temple answered and told him that his brother-in-law had been shot, along with three priests. The priest also said women and children were hiding in closets in the temple, Nagr said. Police had not identified another gunman so far, but Wentlandt said the situation was fluid and a search of the ground was continuing.