Wisconsin Killer Fronted Neo-Nazi Band

The Army veteran accused of killing six people Sunday in a shooting rampage at a Sikh temple near Milwaukee was deeply immersed in the white supremacist movement and fronted a white-power band called End Apathy, The New York Times reports.

The police say Wade Page, 40, walked into the temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and opened fire with a nine-millimeter handgun, killing six people and wounding three others before police officers shot and killed him. Details emerged yesterday about Page, who was active in the neo-Nazi music scene, attending a white-supremacist music festival in Georgia and playing in bands that espoused racism and anti-Semitism in their songs.

"The music that comes from these bands is incredibly violent, and it talks about murdering Jews, black people, gay people and a whole host of other enemies," said Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups.

Influenced by hardcore and heavy metal, racist bands have been part of the white-supremacist subculture for decades, sometimes raising money for extremist causes. In addition to fronting End Apathy, Page played in the bands Blue Eyed Devils and Definite Hate, which made reference in one song to "our race war."

Authorities are treating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism.