US President Biden Decries Wisconsin Gurudwara Shooting On Its Tenth Anniversary

On 5 August, 2012, a white supremacist Wade Page stormed a Gurudwara in Wisconsin, killed 6, and shot himself dead.

Mourners pray before a candlelight vigil on the anniversary of a mass shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin August 5, 2013.

(Photo: Reuters)

United States President Joe Biden denounced the Gurudwara shooting that took place a decade ago in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, on August 5, 2012, on its anniversary.

Biden called it the deadliest attack on Sikh Americans in US history and reiterated the need to ban assault weapons that end up being used in many mass shootings in places of worship, according to India New England News.

Back in 2012, a white supremacist Wade Page stormed a Gurudwara in Wisconsin and shot and killed six worshippers prior to shooting himself dead. The seventh person who was severely paralysed, died from his injuries in 2020.

No one should fear for their life when they visit a place of worship or "go about their lives in America" said Biden, adding that the House of Representatives has passed a bill in this regard and urged the Senate to act on it as well.

"To stand in defence of religious freedom, we must all stand together to ban the weapons that terrorise congregations around our country."

Joe Biden, US President.

Biden praised the optimism of the Sikh community in the US which hosts a memorial in honour of the victims of the mass shooting in Wisconsin.

The Sikh Coordination Committee East Coast (SCCEC) and American Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (AGPC) said the two organizations "memorialise this shooting and pray for the departed souls and their families."

These organizations have also expressed solidarity with communities of other faiths who have become victims of mass gun violence and white supremacy, urging the US Congress to pass the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act.

"On this sad occasion, we remember the church mass shooting in Charleston, where nine Black worshippers were shot and killed in 2015, and the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh where 11 worshippers were slain in 2018."

Pritpal Singh, Coordinator, American Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee

(With inputs from IANS, India New England News)