Hate takes a deadly toll at a Wisconsin temple

Less than three weeks ago, the na- tion was shocked when an angry young man dressed in SWAT attire and heavily armed opened fire in a crowded Colorado theater, killing 12 people.

What we’ve learned subsequently about that shooter, James Holmes, is that he was brilliant, mentally unstable and a meticulous homicidal planner.

Now, investigators are trying to piece together the motives behind the latest spree killer, a man who walked into a Sikh temple in Wisconsin on Sunday and opened fire on worshippers.

On its face, the temple shooting has the elements of a hate crime, possibly, domestic terrorism.

Wade Michael Page was an avowed white supremacist who frequented Intranet forums for skinheads and played in heavy metal bands targeted at fellow supremacists.

And his chosen victims were brown-skinned men and women practicing a religion that has made them targets of racists and ignoramuses. Sikhs, whose men wear beards and turbans, are often mistaken for Muslims or Arabs and have been victims of violent anti-Muslim bias in post-9/11 America.

Authorities in Colorado may be able to piece together a stronger theory of what drove the homicidal rage of James Holmes because Holmes surrendered to police when confronted.

Swift justice

Page, however, defied a police order to drop his weapon, fired two shots and was himself felled by Oak Creek, Wis., police officer Sam Lenda.

Page was the seventh person to die at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in suburban Milwaukee. His victims were men and women ranging in age from 41 to 84 and included Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65, the president of the temple, who confronted Page armed with the only weapon within reach, a butter knife. His act of bravery was credited with allowing nearby women to escape out of Page’s range.

One of the injustices of these massacres is that the names of the killers are remembered long after the names of their victims fade for all except those who most closely suffered the loss. Acts of heroism, by Kaleka and a wounded Oak Creek police officer, Lt. Brian Murphy, are not as memorialized as acts of depravity by the likes of Page and Holmes.

In coming days, news reports are likely to continue to focus on Page, as more is learned about his failures as a soldier, a musician and, yes, as a human being. But this kind of scrutiny is necessary to understanding how seemingly normal men — and almost all such killers are men — evolve into ruthless murderers.

Such scrutiny has the unseemly effect of glorifying these killers in the minds of some, but it is necessary to understanding them. If the exposure results in just one such future murderer being recognized before he can wreak havoc, it will be worth it.