The gunman, identified as Wade Michael Page, shot dead six people and wounded three others, including a police officer, at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin on Sunday as worshippers prepared for religious services.

He was later shot dead by police.

Although the identity of the tall, bald, white suspect in his 40s was not officially released, Fox News said Page, 40, was a former soldier.

He was at one time stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Fox said .

CNN said Page legally owned the gun used in the shooting.

A law enforcement official said the "name that is out there is accurate".

Authorities said they were treating the attack as an act of domestic terrorism.

Wade had been a member of the racist skinhead band End Apathy, based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 2010, said Heidi Beirich, director of the intelligence project at the Southern Poverty Law Centre.

Wade also tried to buy goods from the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group, in 2000, she said.

"That's all we know about Wade. We are still digging through our files," she said.

A US official confirmed Wade had been in the military, but said it was before the September 11 2001 attacks.