Wisconsin police search for shooting motive

>>> in the milwaukee suburb of oak creek , wisconsin, investigators are still trying to figure out why that man opened fire in a sikh temple over this past weekend. tonight in colorado his step mother is speaking out. nbc's john yang has the story.

>> reporter: when laura page heard police accuse wade michael page of the sikh temple shooting rampage she didn't recognize her former step son .

>> he was a happy person and a happy child. what happened, god only knows, because i don't.

>> reporter: page was married to wade's father for 20 years and lost contact with her former step son when he went into the army. she is puzzled by his reported involvement with white supremacists .

>> when he lived in texas with us he had hispanic friends and he had black friends. you know, there was none of that.

>> reporter: he was in two heavy metal bands associated with racist skinheads. law enforcement officials tell nbc news that searches of apartments where wade had lived turned up little of interest. they're exploring whether this was domestic terrorism. national sikh leaders say it should be classified as a hate crime .

>> i think it's really important that if something was a hate crime that everyone own up that we were in an environment that allowed for this to occur.

>> reporter: experts estimate there are more than 1,000 hate groups in america, the numbers fueled by the bad economy. a sikh american group says attacks on sikhs have risen since 9/11. in oak creek the mourners were joined by thegjt)p' ambassador who visited the families of the dead. the temple attack has brought the community closer together. people of all faiths have attended prayer services and candlelight vigils.

>> we are just thankful to be living here knowing our neighbors are with us no matter what happens. they're here to support us in any way and we have been just extremely overwhelmed.

>> peggy howell was drawn to this hand made memorial in the city park .

>> we're all americans. and this kind of hatred cannot be tolerated.

>> reporter: visitation at a wake for the slain temple president satwant kaleka has been set for friday morning. so many people have said they want to attend and so many people have asked to speak it's going to be held in the local high school gymnasium. brian?

>> john yang at oak creek , wisconsin for us tonight. john, thanks.

>>> now, two and a half weeks after that movie theater shooting rampage that left 12 people dead, 58 wounded, kids in grades 6 through 12 went back to school today in aurora, colorado. we also learned that a potential copy cat was arrested this past weekend in an ohio movie theater . 37-year-old scott smith was carrying a loaded hand gun , extra ammunition, and knives at a 10:00 p.m . showing of "the dark knight rises."