The Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that has studied hate crimes for decades, says on its website 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, tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that her group had been tracking Page since 2000, when he tried to purchase goods from the National Alliance, a well-known hate group.
Beirich says 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.
Page enlisted in April 1992 and was given a less-than-honorable discharge in October 1998. CBS reports that Page served at Fort Bliss, Texas, in the psychological operations unit in 1994, and was last stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, attached to the psychological operations there.
The New York Post reports that Page was a Hawk missile system repair specialist before moving on to psychological operations.
AP reports that such specialists are responsible for the analysis, development and distribution of intelligence used for influencing foreign populations.
The details of his discharge were not immediately clear.
Wade was killed outside the temple in a shootout with police officers after the rampage. CBS, citing unnamed sources, says evidence suggests race or ethnicity may have played a role in the violence, but no links to extremist groups have been confirmed.
