Six people were killed at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin on Sunday and the suspect has been identified as Wade Michael Page.

Page, 40, was killed by police in a shootout after he shot nine people during religious services at a temple located in a Milwaukee suburb. Three others were injured in addition to the six victims who were shot dead.

The victim ranged in ages between 39 and 84, and included the president of the congregation as well as a priest.

The Sikh mass killing has stunned the nation because the shooting occurred two weeks after another gunman, James Holmes, killed 12 people at a movie theater in a suburb in Aurora, Colorado. The victims were attending the midnight premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises."

The police officer who is injured was shot while tending to the first victim, said Oak Creek Police Chief Edwards according to Reuters. Page shot the officer at close range "eight or nine times" then began firing at a police car. When he was ordered by officers who arrived at the scene to drop his weapon, he refused and was shot and killed by police.

According to several reports, the gunman was a former U.S. Veteran who was considered a "white supremacist" and "skin head." He was a member of a racist skinhead band called End Apathy, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The SPLC also revealed that Page tried to buy merchandise from a neo-Nazi group in 2000. The National Alliance is described as "perhaps the most dangerous and best organized neo-Nazi formation in America" according to SPLC's website.

The racist ties leave authorities to consider the shooting a "domestic act of terrorism" according to the report. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, Sikhs around the world have been mistaken for being Muslim. Several reports have indicated that they are often racially profiled for wearing similar attire as Middle Eastern Muslims, particularly the turbans and long beards. The September 11 attacks were carried out by Muslims linked to the al Qaeda militant group led by Osama bin Laden, who wore a turban and long beard.

Reueters reports that after serving six years in the Army, Page was discharged in 1998 for "patterns of misconduct." In June 1998 he was disciplined for being drunk on duty in 1998 and had his rank reduced from psychological operation specialist to specialist from sergeant. He was not able to re-enlist, added the report.