The shooter who open fired before worship services Sunday at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek and killed six people before he was killed by police is Wade Michael Page, a 40-year-old Army veteran, U.S. Attorney James A. Santelle said Monday.

He said officials believe he purchased the 9 mm handgun legally in Wisconsin.

Page served in the military approximately between 1992 and 1998, Santelle said.

Other sources familiar with the shooting investigation said Wade was assigned to psychological operations, or PsyOps.

Law enforcement officials had scheduled a news briefing for 10 a.m. in Oak Creek.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that has studied hate crimes for decades, reported Monday that Page was a frustrated neo-Nazi who had been the leader of a racist white-power band known as End Apathy.

Heidi Beirich, director of the center's intelligence project, said her group had been tracking Page since 2000, when he tried to purchase goods from the National Alliance, a well-known hate group.

The National Alliance was led by William Pierce, who was the author of "The Turner Diaries." The book depicts a violent revolution in the United States leading to an overthrow of the federal government and, ultimately, a race war. Parts of the book were found in Timothy McVeigh's getaway car after the bombing of the federal building Oklahoma City in 1995.

Beirich said there was "no question" Page was an ardent follower and believer in the white supremacist movement. She said her center had evidence that he attended "hate events" around the country.

"He was involved in the scene," she said.

Pierce is dead, and Beirich said the National Alliance is no longer considered to be an influential group.

Also on Monday, a volunteer human-rights group called Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) found links between Page, his band and a white supremacist website called Stormfront.

Jeffrey Imm, who heads R.E.A.L., said in an interview Monday that someone based in Milwaukee using the name "End Apathy" began posting on the website in February 2008. Additionally, appearances by Page's band were promoted on the Stormfront site, including a white supremacist gathering in March 2012 in Richmond, Va.

Here is a screen capture of the "End Apathy" post. And here is a post on Stormfront promoting the band's appearance....

...Page is believed to have worked as a truck driver with Granger, Iowa-based Barr-Nunn Transportation, from about April 2006 to August 2010 while living in Fayetteville, N.C. An employee at the company said he left "involuntarily" but declined to elaborate.

The Cumberland County, N.C., Sheriff's Department said Page was issued a gun permit in April 2008.

He was described at the time as 5-10, 210 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. He was single and had a scar on his stomach and tattoos, including lettering on his hands, a Celtic knot on his back and fire on his leg.

The only criminal contact the department had on Page was a charge of writing a worthless check in October 1997.

In Cudahy, Amber Young, 14, said she saw the suspect walking his dog, a black Labrador, on several occasions and that Page had a 9/11 tattoo on his upper right arm. "He was walking his dog and it was right there," she said pointing to her own upper right arm.

The tattoo said, "9/11" and "had a bunch of descriptions and stuff," Amber Young said.

Before moving to the Cudahy address, Page lived for a time earlier this year in a South Milwaukee.

David Brown, 62, a neighbor who lived in the same South Milwaukee apartment building earlier this year, said Page was a recluse. He was "not a friendly guy," he said. "You'd have more fun with a camel."

"He was very quiet. You'd say hi and he'd kind of 'uh.' It was like he didn't care if you were talking or not."

Brown saw Page driving a plain white delivery truck several times. Page lived in apartment No. 5 with his girlfriend, Misty, who was going to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and who has an autistic son, and whose father helped out with child care and car maintenance.

Page liked to play music at odd hours of the night and work out in the basement with free weights.

Brown saw him there when he went to do laundry. "I never saw him carry a gun," said the former navy officer who is retired from working in aviation electronics.

Page and his girlfriend moved out about four or five months ago.

"He didn't seem mean. It was kind of like he was angry at the world. But I'm not a psychiatrist," Brown said...

...Page had lived in North Carolina and Colorado before moving to Cudahy.

Photo: MySpace