Federal documents unsealed in probe of Wade Page



OAK CREEK (WITI) -- Federal documents have been unsealed, showing what the FBI discovered in its investigation into Wade Page -- the gunman who opened fire last August at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek.

Those documents say Page was showing an increasing interest in internet hate sites before he shot and killed six and wounded four others on August 5th.

Page, the lone gunman entered the Sikh Temple on a sunny August morning -- opening fire on a seemingly random house of worship.

A federal search warrant shows a laptop Page used showed officials pictures of Page with other white supremacists called "Hammerskins." Documents show the laptop was used to access white supremacist websites with propaganda, conspiracy theories and videos, and it was reportedly used during the early morning hours of August 5th.

Documents say FBI experts believe the internet continues to serve as the primary radicalization instrument used to recruit teenagers and young adults into the racist skinhead movement. However, it is not something the FBI can stop, according to free speech guaranteed in the Constitution.

A private group, the Anti-Defamation League amassed a file on Page, and helped the FBI by giving them that file after the shooting. The ADL says Page's internet actions were not threatening.

While the FBI was able to seize the computer Page was using, a spokesman for the agency says Page did nothing before the shooting that would have allowed government officials to intervene.

As unsettling as it is, the ADL says it has many files on people involved in hate groups -- just like Page.