MILWAUKEE – Misty Cook, the ex-girlfriend of the man suspected of killing six worshippers at a Sikh temple before a police officer shot and killed him, was arrested on a weapons charge, law enforcement officials told FoxNews.com.
The gun was found during a search of the South Milwaukee home where Cook lives, sources said. The weapon, which law enforcement sources did not identify, was not involved in Sunday’s attack. A law enforcement source said Cook has a 2002 felony conviction for eluding police, making it illegal for her to possess a gun. She was arrested Sunday night on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm and later released.
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Cook, a 31-year-old nursing student, lived with Page at two separate apartments in South Milwaukee and Cudahy, Wis., according to neighbors. She has not been charged in connection with the temple shooting. Sources said Cook will be arrested and processed by the South Milwaukee Police Department.
Jenna Benn, the Anti-Defamation League’s assistant regional director in Chicago told Stars and Stripes that Cook is affiliated with the white-power group Volksfront and is a supporter of the Hammerskin Nation, a Dallas-based white supremacy group. She said Page's ex-girlfriend is a prolific poster on hate forums.
On Tuesday, Cook declined to answer questions when approached outside the home where the gun was recovered, but she later responded in an email to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
"In light of this senseless tragedy, I must respectfully decline any requests for comments," she said. "If I could say something to ease the pain of the victims and their families I would gladly do so. Unfortunately words do not begin to heal the pain they are going through. I ask that you please respect my privacy in dealing with this issue as it is a great struggle for me."
Neighbors and law enforcement sources said Page and Cook had broken up in recent weeks. One neighbor recently reported hearing Page "banging on the door of his old apartment, demanding to be let in."
David Brown, 62, a Navy veteran who also lived in the building, said Page often lifted weights in the basement, as angry music blasted away. He said Cook began to change after living with Page. "The longer she stayed here with him, the more quiet and more withdrawn she got," Brown told FoxNews.com. "In the end she didn't even make eye contact with me."
Neighbors who lived in the building where Page and Cook shared a home for the first four months of 2012 said they were a strange couple, keeping to themselves. They played ear-splitting rock music and barely acknowledged neighbors, witnesses told FoxNews.com.
"He wouldn't even look at you," said Robert Haugle, 31. When a Hispanic family moved into the building, the couple moved out.
"They had no stuff, and they didn't have movers, it was really weird," Haugle added. "Just one day they were gone."
Authorities said they do not believe anyone but Page was involved in Sunday’s shooting. Page, a 40-year-old ex-soldier who was drummed out of the military after being caught drinking on duty, was more recently a guitarist and singer in several so-called ‘white power’ rock bands.
Page’s bloody spree claimed Sita Singh, 41; Ranjit Singh, 49; Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65; Prakash Singh, 39; Paramjit Kaur, 41; and Suveg Singh, 84 as victims. Four more were injured, including a police officer who suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
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