On a sunny Sunday morning, August 5, 2012, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, 65-year-old Southwest Asian male, Satwant Singh Kaleka, was at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, a place of worship he had helped found and served as president. The temple was preparing for the day's services and the communal meal known as langar. Kaleka was awaiting the arrival of his son and grandchildren for children's classes. This ordinary Sunday was shattered when a gunman, Wade Michael Page, a 40-year-old U.S.
Army veteran with ties to white supremacist groups, walked into the temple and began shooting.
As the attack unfolded, Kaleka, without regard for his own safety, confronted the shooter. Armed only with a butter knife, he fought back in an attempt to protect the other members of the congregation. His actions are credited with giving several women and children enough time to hide in the kitchen, his own wife among them. During the struggle, Kaleka was fatally shot by the assailant. In total, Page killed six people and wounded four others before he was engaged by police. An officer was shot multiple times by Page before another officer wounded the gunman. Page then took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
The lone suspect in the shooting was Wade Michael Page. The investigation was treated as a domestic terrorism incident and was eventually handed over to the FBI. Due to his death at the scene, Page was never arrested or brought to trial for the attack. Law enforcement officials found no evidence to suggest anyone else was involved in the planning or execution of the mass shooting. Satwant Singh Kaleka was hailed as a hero for his selfless bravery in the face of a hateful act of violence. His son, Amardeep Singh Kaleka, was told by FBI agents, "Your dad's a hero."
