South Milwaukee Blog

Update: Here is confirmation from South Milwaukee Police Chief Ann Wellens: “On Sunday, August 5^th officers from SMPD assisted the FBI at 1422 Marquette Avenue interviewing Wade Page’s ex-girlfriend:  Misty Cook.  SMPD officers arrested (booked & released) Misty Cook for the offense of Felon in Possession of a Firearm (not related to the federal investigation).  She will be referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office for charges.”

We now know that the Oak Creek Sikh Temple shooting suspect called South Milwaukee home for some time before his recent move to Cudahy — and Sunday’s massacre.

Wade Michael Page apparently lived with his South Milwaukee girlfriend locally, until they recently broke up. Tuesday, she was arrested for being a felon allegedly in possession of a firearm.

Check out the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story on the arrest — and Misty Cook’s disturbing connections to a white power group — here. The story also contains more details on Page’s presence in South Milwaukee. From it:

The first record of Page living in the area was at an apartment he shared with Cook in the 700 block of Minnesota Ave. in South Milwaukee in November 2011.

Cook worked at a restaurant about a block away from the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek where Page shot 10 people, killing six, on Sunday. He was fatally shot by police.

Page and Cook broke up in June and she had no role in the rampage, authorities said.

After the breakup, Cook continued to live in an apartment she and Page had rented together in February in the 1400 block of Marquette Ave. in South Milwaukee. He moved to Cudahy. Authorities searched both of those places, as well as the couple’s previous apartment on Minnesota Ave.

At the Marquette Ave. location, they found a gun. Cook was arrested late Tuesday on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, South Milwaukee police said. The Milwaukee County district attorney’s office will review the case.

Cook cannot legally possess a gun because she has a previous felony conviction.

Also, check out coverage of Cook’s arrest from WISN, Fox 6 and the Los Angeles Times.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a few more details about the time Wade Michael Page apparently spent living in South Milwaukee in the months leading up to Sunday’s Sikh Temple shootings in Oak Creek.

Here is the story. From it:

Page, 40, moved in with a woman and her son in late 2011 in a building of a half-dozen apartments in South Milwaukee. The woman had lived in the apartment with her son for a couple of years before Page moved in.

The woman and Page and the boy lived in a second-floor apartment, just off the street. Those who lived around them said they were mostly invisible, except for occasional loud music.

Robert Hauglie Sr., who has three boys and lives in a lower unit, said the woman’s son was never outside. Thinking back, Hauglie said it was odd how little he saw the couple. He didn’t even see them bringing in groceries.

They moved out earlier this year without a sign, he said.

“The way we knew they were gone is someone else moved in,” Hauglie said.

The couple moved a mile or so away to another apartment in South Milwaukee in February or March.

Page worked nights at a local factory and again would disappear with the woman on the weekend, according to neighbors.

“Nobody knew him. He kept to himself,” said Terry Page, who lived downstairs and is not related to Wade Page. He said he had only one conversation when he told Page he could use the gas grill in the backyard. Page grunted.

Another neighbor said the woman’s son would knock out the second-floor screen and throw his toys out the window. Page or the woman would come down and gather them up.

Page stayed for a while, moving out in June and finding a place to live in Cudahy.

The woman left her South Milwaukee apartment Monday morning with her father, neighbors said.

Of note, WhitePages.com still lists a Wade Page as living in the 700 block of Minnesota Ave. in South Milwaukee.