NBC's John Yang reports from Oak Creek, Wisc., where a white, male Army veteran is the suspected gunman in a deadly shooting at a Sikh temple which claimed the lives of seven people.
By NBC News staff and wire reports
Updated at 7:53 a.m. ET: OAK CREEK, Wisconsin -- Police searched the apartment early on Monday of a gunman who killed six people at a Sikh temple in southern Wisconsin, looking for clues to his motive.?
A police officer?called to the scene shot dead the gunman before he could fire on even more worshippers as they prepared for Sunday services at the temple in the suburb of Oak Creek, south of Milwaukee.?
Three other people were in hospital with grave injuries, authorities?said.?
Authorities said they were treating the attack as an act of domestic terrorism.?
The identity of the tall, bald, white suspect in his 40s was not immediately released. The names of the victims also were not made public pending notification of relatives, although members said the president of the congregation and a priest were among the victims.?
Amardeep Kaleka tells TODAY's Matt Lauer that his community is at a "breaking point" after a gunman opened fire and killed his father and five other faithful inside a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.
Authorities said the gunman had used a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, which was recovered at the scene. They were trying to track the origin of the weapon.?
Gunman opens fire at Sikh temple in Wisconsin; 7 dead
Wisconsin has some of the most permissive gun laws in the country and had passed a law in 2011 allowing citizens to carry a concealed weapon.?
Jagjit Singh Kaleka, the brother of the president of the temple, who was among the six Sikhs killed, said he had no idea what the motive was for the attack.?
Tasos Katopodis / AFP - Getty Images
Members of the police, FBI, fire department and bomb squad set-up near the home of a man who allegedly shot dead six in a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., on Sunday.
"But we know the more assault weapons we distribute the more situations like this we will have," he said. The U.S. had a ban on certain assault weapons but it expired in 2004.?
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Early on Monday, police were searching an apartment at a duplex in the Cudahy neighborhood near Milwaukee, presumed to be the residence of the gunman. Generators and floodlights were set up along the street and a bomb squad was on the scene.?
The attack came just over two weeks after a gunman killed 12 people at a theater in Aurora, Colorado, where they were watching a screening of new Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises."?
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In January 2011, a gunman killed six people in an attack on an event by then Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona. Giffords was shot in the head but survived.?
Jeffrey Phelps / AP
A gunman opened fire Sunday morning at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee, killing six people and wounding at least three others, including a police officer, before being shot to death, authorities said.
American Sikhs said they have often been singled out for harassment, and occasionally violent attack, since the September 11, 2001 attacks because of their colorful turbans and beards.?
9/11 tattoo?
The 2001 attacks were carried out by Muslims linked to the al-Qaida militant group led by Osama bin Laden. Sikhs are not Muslim but many Americans do not know the difference, members of the Sikh community said.?
Tight-knight Sikh community shocked by shooting
Some witnesses to the Wisconsin shooting said the suspect had a tattoo marking the September 11, 2001 attacks. Authorities confirmed he had tattoos but said they were not sure exactly what the tattoos illustrated.?
There are 500,000 or more Sikhs in the United States but the community in Wisconsin is small, about 2,500 to 3,000 families, said local Sikhs.?
Police officials says that they are treating the shooting by a gunman that left 7 people dead, including the gunman, and 3 others injured, as a 'domestic terrorist incident.'
The Sikh faith is the fifth-largest in the world, with more than 30 million followers. It includes belief in one God and that the goal of life is to lead an exemplary existence.?
The temple in Oak Creek was founded in October 1997 and has a congregation of 350 to 400 people.?
"These people were going to church. Two weeks ago, it was people going to a movie. When is it going to end?" said Ray Zirkle, who came from Racine, Wisconsin with his wife to light votive candles near the site of the shooting.?
A mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisc., leaves seven dead, including the suspected gunman, and three wounded, including an ambushed police officer. NBC's John Yang reports.
On Sunday evening, hundreds gathered in downtown?Milwaukee?to hold a vigil of for the victims of the shootings,?The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Participants stood in a circle, prayed and lit candles at the event held at Cathedral Square, and one-by-one people made unscripted statements to the group, according to the newspaper.?
Tom Lynn / Reuters
People gather in downtown Milwaukee at a vigil for the victims of Sunday's shooting in a Sikh temple in nearby Oak Creek, Wis.
One man recited "The Lord's Prayer."
"This isn't about the city of Oak Creek, we are all responsible," another said, while a third declared:?"I'm an atheist and I stand behind every peace loving religion," the newspaper reported.
Members of the Sikh community attended the vigil, the Journal reported.?
"It was same as 9/11," Manpreet Kaur, who attended the vigil with her husband and two daughters, told the newspaper. "My mother-in-law and father-in-law thought that it's not safe for you to go in your turban today."?
Reuters contributed to this report.
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