Police arrest Sikh temple gunman’s former girlfriend

SOUTH MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Police arrested a former girlfriend of the gunman who killed six people at a Sikh temple, saying an unauthorized gun was found in the home they once shared.

Misty Cook, a 31-year-old waitress and nursing student with reported ties to white supremacist organizations, was arrested Tuesday in a joint investigation with the FBI on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Wade Michael Page, the gunman shot dead by police at the temple Sunday, had lived with her until moving to a separate residence a few weeks ago.

Police said criminal charges against Cook would be sought through the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office.

The arrest did not appear to be directly related to the attack at the temple in nearby Oak Creek, and police continued to say they believe Page acted alone. Page, 40, killed six worshippers at the temple, known as a gurdwara, and critically wounded three other people, including a police officer shot nine times while trying to tend to one of the other victims.

Although Page has been identified as having deep ties in the white supremacist movement, authorities continued to insist that they were making no assumptions about his motive in attacking Sikh immigrants, who in the past have been mistakenly targeted as Muslims.

“We’re looking at all the obvious indicators – things that would happen in somebody’s life that would cause them to snap,” Oak Creek police Chief John Edwards told CNN. “We’re not finding anything like that. … We may never know the motive, because he died, and that motive died with him.”

Asked whether Page had left any writings on a computer or elsewhere, Edwards said an FBI evidence team “has recovered some items, and they are going through all of that.” But so far, he said, they have found nothing that sheds light on the crime.

It was apparently during a search for Page’s belongings that authorities found the gun at the home he had shared with Cook.

According to court records, Brenda Misty Cook was convicted in 2005 of fleeing a traffic officer in Milwaukee County. She was sentenced to 18 months probation and served 97 days in jail.

Cook shared Page’s interest in the white power movement and was active in at least two neo-Nazi organizations, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which monitors hate groups. The ADL had information on Page and Cook going back several years, and ADL researchers said Page appeared to have moved to Wisconsin to be with her.