Active shooter response expert analyzes Sikh Temple dashcam

OAK CREEK -- Dashcam video from the Sikh Temple shooting incident back on August 5th was released Monday, September 10th. Oak Creek leaders held a press conference and showed the video -- which depicts the Sikh Temple shooting from the eyes of the first officers to the scene -- Lt. Brian Murphy and Officer Sam Lenda. Officials have said Murphy and Lenda had a "textbook response," and Lenda repeated during Monday's press conference that engaging Wade Page -- an active shooter, is something he and other officers train for.

FOX6 News watched the dashcam video with the dean of criminal justice at Waukesha County Technical College. Brian Dorow trains officers in how to respond to active shooters and explained why officers made the decisions they did on that Sunday morning in Oak Creek.

The first clip released was dashcam video from Lt. Murphy's squad. It shows Lt. Murphy arriving on the scene. He exits his squad and checks on two victims from the temple in the parking lot. Moments later, he notices Wade Page walking around the parking lot with what appears to be a gun. Page fires upon Murphy and he is struck. The shot goes through Murphy's cheek and throat. Page closes in on the wounded officer. Murphy takes aim at Page. But Page fires a shot that knocks the gun out of Murphy's hands.

New information indicates 15 rounds were fired upon Lt. Murphy. Officials say 12 of the rounds struck Lt. Murphy and the other three struck his protective vest. Murphy is now at home, recovering from this wounds.

The second clip shows dashcam video from the squad of Officer Lenda. Officials say Lenda distracted Page away from Lt. Murphy, most likely saving his life.

The dashcam video shows Lenda pulling up on the scene at the Sikh Temple. He saw Page running around in the parking lot at the Sikh Temple and backed off.

"He created some distance so he could put the car in park and effectively radio to his responding officers," Dorow said.

After assessing the situation, Officer Lenda grabbed his squad rifle, an AR-15. Page had been firing upon Lenda's squad -- and even struck the windshield.

"You really don't want to stay in the car. You're kind of trapped once you're in the car. Once you're outside, you have the ability to move. If the suspect starts coming at you, you can maybe run behind a tree," Lenda said.

Moments later, after getting no compliance from Page, Lenda fired his squad rifle at Page, striking him. Lenda indicated he fired six rounds. Moments after this exchange, Page shot himself in the head.

At a press conference Monday, Lenda credited his training.

"Ever since Columbine it's something that we've been training long and hard for and this is the first time we were actually able as law enforcement to put it into effect," Lenda said.

Dorow praised both officers as heroic and effective.

"As far as I'm concerned, this was just a textbook response," Dorow said.

Dorow says training for active shooter situations is done on his campus, but a lot of departments also do it in house, sometimes bi-weekly or on a monthly basis.

The shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin on August 5th left six dead and three critically wounded. The six victims of temple shooting are identified as — Sita Singh, 41; Ranjit Singh, 49; temple president Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65; Prakash Singh, 39, and Suveg Singh, 84 — and 41-year-old Paramjit Kaur.

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