posted November 27, 2004 01:11 PM            

HAYWARD, Wisconsin Twenty-four years ago, a youth named Chai Soua Vang was part of the first wave of immigrants from Laos who came to the United States after the Indochina war. He later married, worked as a truck driver, fathered six children, learned to speak English fluently and became a U.S. citizen.
.
On Sunday, according to the police, he shot eight hunters in a bloody spree that has left the region dumbfounded. Five of the hunters died Sunday, and a sixth died in the hospital Monday night. Vang is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, pending the filing of formal charges.
.
Sheriff James Meier of Sawyer County said at a news conference on Monday that a couple of the hunters had discovered Vang in their private hunting platform and asked him to leave. He did so, but after walking 120 feet, or about 35 meters, he suddenly stopped.
.
"For some apparent reason, he turned around and opened fire," Meier said. "The action makes no sense."
.
Vang told the police that he had opened fire after the hunters had cursed him with racial epithets and that one of them had shot at him.
.
According to the statement, Vang said several of the hunters surrounded him, swore at him and threatened him after he climbed down from the platform. He said that after he had walked about 60 feet from the hunters, he turned and saw one of them point a rifle at him.
.
"Vang immediately dropped to a crouch position, and the subject shot at Vang," the report said, summarizing his account. "The bullet hit the ground 30 to 40 feet behind Vang."
.
"Vang shot two times at the man with the rifle, and the man dropped to the ground," the report said. It did not give any explanation for why the other victims, some of whom who had raced to the scene in an all-terrain vehicle to help their friends, were shot.
.
The police statement said that as Vang looked down the trail and saw that one of the hunters was still standing he yelled, "You're not dead yet?" and shot again.
.
No lawyer accompanied Vang when he made the statements. The report says he waived his right to have one present.
.
Family deer hunts at the end of November are a deeply rooted tradition here in the North Woods, so it was perhaps inevitable that several of the victims were related. Two were father and son. Another two were father and daughter.
.
Vang is one of more than 45,000 members of the Hmong ethnic group from Southeast Asia who have moved to the neighboring state of Minnesota since the 1970s. Thousands of Hmong fought in a "secret army" that the Central Intelligence Agency assembled to fight communism there in the 1970s. The State Department has granted them special visa consideration as an expression of U.S. gratitude.
.
Vang, 36, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, which has about 25,000 Hmong, according to the 2000 census. They make up a larger percentage of the population there than they do in any other U.S. city.
.
Clashes between white and Laotian hunters are not unknown. Some Laotians have complained that whites harass them with racial taunts, while some whites say not all Laotians respect property rights. The killings were on private land.
.
In the wake of the killings, fear has surged in St. Paul through the Hmong community, where police cars were posted in front of some Hmong-owned businesses.
.
A group of prominent Hmong-Americans, eager to distance their community from the killings and head off a possible backlash, held a news conference in St. Paul.
.
"We stand before you as representatives of the greater law-abiding Hmong community to unconditionally - unconditionally - condemn these atrocities," said Cha Vang, one of the group's spokesmen. "What happened in Wisconsin is in no way representative of the Hmong people and what they stand for."
.

See more of the world that matters - click here for home delivery of the International Herald Tribune.
< < Back to Start of Article HAYWARD, Wisconsin Twenty-four years ago, a youth named Chai Soua Vang was part of the first wave of immigrants from Laos who came to the United States after the Indochina war. He later married, worked as a truck driver, fathered six children, learned to speak English fluently and became a U.S. citizen.
.
On Sunday, according to the police, he shot eight hunters in a bloody spree that has left the region dumbfounded. Five of the hunters died Sunday, and a sixth died in the hospital Monday night. Vang is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, pending the filing of formal charges.
.
Sheriff James Meier of Sawyer County said at a news conference on Monday that a couple of the hunters had discovered Vang in their private hunting platform and asked him to leave. He did so, but after walking 120 feet, or about 35 meters, he suddenly stopped.
.
"For some apparent reason, he turned around and opened fire," Meier said. "The action makes no sense."
.
Vang told the police that he had opened fire after the hunters had cursed him with racial epithets and that one of them had shot at him.
.
According to the statement, Vang said several of the hunters surrounded him, swore at him and threatened him after he climbed down from the platform. He said that after he had walked about 60 feet from the hunters, he turned and saw one of them point a rifle at him.
.
"Vang immediately dropped to a crouch position, and the subject shot at Vang," the report said, summarizing his account. "The bullet hit the ground 30 to 40 feet behind Vang."
.
"Vang shot two times at the man with the rifle, and the man dropped to the ground," the report said. It did not give any explanation for why the other victims, some of whom who had raced to the scene in an all-terrain vehicle to help their friends, were shot.
.
The police statement said that as Vang looked down the trail and saw that one of the hunters was still standing he yelled, "You're not dead yet?" and shot again.
.
No lawyer accompanied Vang when he made the statements. The report says he waived his right to have one present.
.
Family deer hunts at the end of November are a deeply rooted tradition here in the North Woods, so it was perhaps inevitable that several of the victims were related. Two were father and son. Another two were father and daughter.
.
Vang is one of more than 45,000 members of the Hmong ethnic group from Southeast Asia who have moved to the neighboring state of Minnesota since the 1970s. Thousands of Hmong fought in a "secret army" that the Central Intelligence Agency assembled to fight communism there in the 1970s. The State Department has granted them special visa consideration as an expression of U.S. gratitude.
.
Vang, 36, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, which has about 25,000 Hmong, according to the 2000 census. They make up a larger percentage of the population there than they do in any other U.S. city.
.
Clashes between white and Laotian hunters are not unknown. Some Laotians have complained that whites harass them with racial taunts, while some whites say not all Laotians respect property rights. The killings were on private land.
.
In the wake of the killings, fear has surged in St. Paul through the Hmong community, where police cars were posted in front of some Hmong-owned businesses.
.
A group of prominent Hmong-Americans, eager to distance their community from the killings and head off a possible backlash, held a news conference in St. Paul.
.
"We stand before you as representatives of the greater law-abiding Hmong community to unconditionally - unconditionally - condemn these atrocities," said Cha Vang, one of the group's spokesmen. "What happened in Wisconsin is in no way representative of the Hmong people and what they stand for."
.HAYWARD, Wisconsin Twenty-four years ago, a youth named Chai Soua Vang was part of the first wave of immigrants from Laos who came to the United States after the Indochina war. He later married, worked as a truck driver, fathered six children, learned to speak English fluently and became a U.S. citizen.
.
On Sunday, according to the police, he shot eight hunters in a bloody spree that has left the region dumbfounded. Five of the hunters died Sunday, and a sixth died in the hospital Monday night. Vang is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, pending the filing of formal charges.
.
Sheriff James Meier of Sawyer County said at a news conference on Monday that a couple of the hunters had discovered Vang in their private hunting platform and asked him to leave. He did so, but after walking 120 feet, or about 35 meters, he suddenly stopped.
.
"For some apparent reason, he turned around and opened fire," Meier said. "The action makes no sense."
.
Vang told the police that he had opened fire after the hunters had cursed him with racial epithets and that one of them had shot at him.
.
According to the statement, Vang said several of the hunters surrounded him, swore at him and threatened him after he climbed down from the platform. He said that after he had walked about 60 feet from the hunters, he turned and saw one of them point a rifle at him.
.
"Vang immediately dropped to a crouch position, and the subject shot at Vang," the report said, summarizing his account. "The bullet hit the ground 30 to 40 feet behind Vang."
.
"Vang shot two times at the man with the rifle, and the man dropped to the ground," the report said. It did not give any explanation for why the other victims, some of whom who had raced to the scene in an all-terrain vehicle to help their friends, were shot.
.
The police statement said that as Vang looked down the trail and saw that one of the hunters was still standing he yelled, "You're not dead yet?" and shot again.
.
No lawyer accompanied Vang when he made the statements. The report says he waived his right to have one present.
.
Family deer hunts at the end of November are a deeply rooted tradition here in the North Woods, so it was perhaps inevitable that several of the victims were related. Two were father and son. Another two were father and daughter.
.
Vang is one of more than 45,000 members of the Hmong ethnic group from Southeast Asia who have moved to the neighboring state of Minnesota since the 1970s. Thousands of Hmong fought in a "secret army" that the Central Intelligence Agency assembled to fight communism there in the 1970s. The State Department has granted them special visa consideration as an expression of U.S. gratitude.
.
Vang, 36, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, which has about 25,000 Hmong, according to the 2000 census. They make up a larger percentage of the population there than they do in any other U.S. city.
.
Clashes between white and Laotian hunters are not unknown. Some Laotians have complained that whites harass them with racial taunts, while some whites say not all Laotians respect property rights. The killings were on private land.
.
In the wake of the killings, fear has surged in St. Paul through the Hmong community, where police cars were posted in front of some Hmong-owned businesses.
.
A group of prominent Hmong-Americans, eager to distance their community from the killings and head off a possible backlash, held a news conference in St. Paul.
.
"We stand before you as representatives of the greater law-abiding Hmong community to unconditionally - unconditionally - condemn these atrocities," said Cha Vang, one of the group's spokesmen. "What happened in Wisconsin is in no way representative of the Hmong people and what they stand for."
.HAYWARD, Wisconsin Twenty-four years ago, a youth named Chai Soua Vang was part of the first wave of immigrants from Laos who came to the United States after the Indochina war. He later married, worked as a truck driver, fathered six children, learned to speak English fluently and became a U.S. citizen.
.
On Sunday, according to the police, he shot eight hunters in a bloody spree that has left the region dumbfounded. Five of the hunters died Sunday, and a sixth died in the hospital Monday night. Vang is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, pending the filing of formal charges.
.
Sheriff James Meier of Sawyer County said at a news conference on Monday that a couple of the hunters had discovered Vang in their private hunting platform and asked him to leave. He did so, but after walking 120 feet, or about 35 meters, he suddenly stopped.
.
"For some apparent reason, he turned around and opened fire," Meier said. "The action makes no sense."
.
Vang told the police that he had opened fire after the hunters had cursed him with racial epithets and that one of them had shot at him.
.
According to the statement, Vang said several of the hunters surrounded him, swore at him and threatened him after he climbed down from the platform. He said that after he had walked about 60 feet from the hunters, he turned and saw one of them point a rifle at him.
.
"Vang immediately dropped to a crouch position, and the subject shot at Vang," the report said, summarizing his account. "The bullet hit the ground 30 to 40 feet behind Vang."
.
"Vang shot two times at the man with the rifle, and the man dropped to the ground," the report said. It did not give any explanation for why the other victims, some of whom who had raced to the scene in an all-terrain vehicle to help their friends, were shot.
.
The police statement said that as Vang looked down the trail and saw that one of the hunters was still standing he yelled, "You're not dead yet?" and shot again.
.
No lawyer accompanied Vang when he made the statements. The report says he waived his right to have one present.
.
Family deer hunts at the end of November are a deeply rooted tradition here in the North Woods, so it was perhaps inevitable that several of the victims were related. Two were father and son. Another two were father and daughter.
.
Vang is one of more than 45,000 members of the Hmong ethnic group from Southeast Asia who have moved to the neighboring state of Minnesota since the 1970s. Thousands of Hmong fought in a "secret army" that the Central Intelligence Agency assembled to fight communism there in the 1970s. The State Department has granted them special visa consideration as an expression of U.S. gratitude.
.
Vang, 36, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, which has about 25,000 Hmong, according to the 2000 census. They make up a larger percentage of the population there than they do in any other U.S. city.
.
Clashes between white and Laotian hunters are not unknown. Some Laotians have complained that whites harass them with racial taunts, while some whites say not all Laotians respect property rights. The killings were on private land.
.
In the wake of the killings, fear has surged in St. Paul through the Hmong community, where police cars were posted in front of some Hmong-owned businesses.
.
A group of prominent Hmong-Americans, eager to distance their community from the killings and head off a possible backlash, held a news conference in St. Paul.
.
"We stand before you as representatives of the greater law-abiding Hmong community to unconditionally - unconditionally - condemn these atrocities," said Cha Vang, one of the group's spokesmen. "What happened in Wisconsin is in no way representative of the Hmong people and what they stand for."
.

See more of the world that matters - click here for home delivery of the International Herald Tribune.
< < Back to Start of Article HAYWARD, Wisconsin Twenty-four years ago, a youth named Chai Soua Vang was part of the first wave of immigrants from Laos who came to the United States after the Indochina war. He later married, worked as a truck driver, fathered six children, learned to speak English fluently and became a U.S. citizen.
.
On Sunday, according to the police, he shot eight hunters in a bloody spree that has left the region dumbfounded. Five of the hunters died Sunday, and a sixth died in the hospital Monday night. Vang is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, pending the filing of formal charges.
.
Sheriff James Meier of Sawyer County said at a news conference on Monday that a couple of the hunters had discovered Vang in their private hunting platform and asked him to leave. He did so, but after walking 120 feet, or about 35 meters, he suddenly stopped.
.
"For some apparent reason, he turned around and opened fire," Meier said. "The action makes no sense."
.
Vang told the police that he had opened fire after the hunters had cursed him with racial epithets and that one of them had shot at him.
.
According to the statement, Vang said several of the hunters surrounded him, swore at him and threatened him after he climbed down from the platform. He said that after he had walked about 60 feet from the hunters, he turned and saw one of them point a rifle at him.
.
"Vang immediately dropped to a crouch position, and the subject shot at Vang," the report said, summarizing his account. "The bullet hit the ground 30 to 40 feet behind Vang."
.
"Vang shot two times at the man with the rifle, and the man dropped to the ground," the report said. It did not give any explanation for why the other victims, some of whom who had raced to the scene in an all-terrain vehicle to help their friends, were shot.
.
The police statement said that as Vang looked down the trail and saw that one of the hunters was still standing he yelled, "You're not dead yet?" and shot again.
.
No lawyer accompanied Vang when he made the statements. The report says he waived his right to have one present.
.
Family deer hunts at the end of November are a deeply rooted tradition here in the North Woods, so it was perhaps inevitable that several of the victims were related. Two were father and son. Another two were father and daughter.
.
Vang is one of more than 45,000 members of the Hmong ethnic group from Southeast Asia who have moved to the neighboring state of Minnesota since the 1970s. Thousands of Hmong fought in a "secret army" that the Central Intelligence Agency assembled to fight communism there in the 1970s. The State Department has granted them special visa consideration as an expression of U.S. gratitude.
.
Vang, 36, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, which has about 25,000 Hmong, according to the 2000 census. They make up a larger percentage of the population there than they do in any other U.S. city.
.
Clashes between white and Laotian hunters are not unknown. Some Laotians have complained that whites harass them with racial taunts, while some whites say not all Laotians respect property rights. The killings were on private land.
.
In the wake of the killings, fear has surged in St. Paul through the Hmong community, where police cars were posted in front of some Hmong-owned businesses.
.
A group of prominent Hmong-Americans, eager to distance their community from the killings and head off a possible backlash, held a news conference in St. Paul.
.
"We stand before you as representatives of the greater law-abiding Hmong community to unconditionally - unconditionally - condemn these atrocities," said Cha Vang, one of the group's spokesmen. "What happened in Wisconsin is in no way representative of the Hmong people and what they stand for."
.HAYWARD, Wisconsin Twenty-four years ago, a youth named Chai Soua Vang was part of the first wave of immigrants from Laos who came to the United States after the Indochina war. He later married, worked as a truck driver, fathered six children, learned to speak English fluently and became a U.S. citizen.
.
On Sunday, according to the police, he shot eight hunters in a bloody spree that has left the region dumbfounded. Five of the hunters died Sunday, and a sixth died in the hospital Monday night. Vang is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, pending the filing of formal charges.
.
Sheriff James Meier of Sawyer County said at a news conference on Monday that a couple of the hunters had discovered Vang in their private hunting platform and asked him to leave. He did so, but after walking 120 feet, or about 35 meters, he suddenly stopped.
.
"For some apparent reason, he turned around and opened fire," Meier said. "The action makes no sense."
.
Vang told the police that he had opened fire after the hunters had cursed him with racial epithets and that one of them had shot at him.
.
According to the statement, Vang said several of the hunters surrounded him, swore at him and threatened him after he climbed down from the platform. He said that after he had walked about 60 feet from the hunters, he turned and saw one of them point a rifle at him.
.
"Vang immediately dropped to a crouch position, and the subject shot at Vang," the report said, summarizing his account. "The bullet hit the ground 30 to 40 feet behind Vang."
.
"Vang shot two times at the man with the rifle, and the man dropped to the ground," the report said. It did not give any explanation for why the other victims, some of whom who had raced to the scene in an all-terrain vehicle to help their friends, were shot.
.
The police statement said that as Vang looked down the trail and saw that one of the hunters was still standing he yelled, "You're not dead yet?" and shot again.
.
No lawyer accompanied Vang when he made the statements. The report says he waived his right to have one present.
.
Family deer hunts at the end of November are a deeply rooted tradition here in the North Woods, so it was perhaps inevitable that several of the victims were related. Two were father and son. Another two were father and daughter.
.
Vang is one of more than 45,000 members of the Hmong ethnic group from Southeast Asia who have moved to the neighboring state of Minnesota since the 1970s. Thousands of Hmong fought in a "secret army" that the Central Intelligence Agency assembled to fight communism there in the 1970s. The State Department has granted them special visa consideration as an expression of U.S. gratitude.
.
Vang, 36, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, which has about 25,000 Hmong, according to the 2000 census. They make up a larger percentage of the population there than they do in any other U.S. city.
.
Clashes between white and Laotian hunters are not unknown. Some Laotians have complained that whites harass them with racial taunts, while some whites say not all Laotians respect property rights. The killings were on private land.
.
In the wake of the killings, fear has surged in St. Paul through the Hmong community, where police cars were posted in front of some Hmong-owned businesses.
.
A group of prominent Hmong-Americans, eager to distance their community from the killings and head off a possible backlash, held a news conference in St. Paul.
.
"We stand before you as representatives of the greater law-abiding Hmong community to unconditionally - unconditionally - condemn these atrocities," said Cha Vang, one of the group's spokesmen. "What happened in Wisconsin is in no way representative of the Hmong people and what they stand for."
.HAYWARD, Wisconsin Twenty-four years ago, a youth named Chai Soua Vang was part of the first wave of immigrants from Laos who came to the United States after the Indochina war. He later married, worked as a truck driver, fathered six children, learned to speak English fluently and became a U.S. citizen.
.
On Sunday, according to the police, he shot eight hunters in a bloody spree that has left the region dumbfounded. Five of the hunters died Sunday, and a sixth died in the hospital Monday night. Vang is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, pending the filing of formal charges.
.
Sheriff James Meier of Sawyer County said at a news conference on Monday that a couple of the hunters had discovered Vang in their private hunting platform and asked him to leave. He did so, but after walking 120 feet, or about 35 meters, he suddenly stopped.
.
"For some apparent reason, he turned around and opened fire," Meier said. "The action makes no sense."
.
Vang told the police that he had opened fire after the hunters had cursed him with racial epithets and that one of them had shot at him.
.
According to the statement, Vang said several of the hunters surrounded him, swore at him and threatened him after he climbed down from the platform. He said that after he had walked about 60 feet from the hunters, he turned and saw one of them point a rifle at him.
.
"Vang immediately dropped to a crouch position, and the subject shot at Vang," the report said, summarizing his account. "The bullet hit the ground 30 to 40 feet behind Vang."
.
"Vang shot two times at the man with the rifle, and the man dropped to the ground," the report said. It did not give any explanation for why the other victims, some of whom who had raced to the scene in an all-terrain vehicle to help their friends, were shot.
.
The police statement said that as Vang looked down the trail and saw that one of the hunters was still standing he yelled, "You're not dead yet?" and shot again.
.
No lawyer accompanied Vang when he made the statements. The report says he waived his right to have one present.
.
Family deer hunts at the end of November are a deeply rooted tradition here in the North Woods, so it was perhaps inevitable that several of the victims were related. Two were father and son. Another two were father and daughter.
.
Vang is one of more than 45,000 members of the Hmong ethnic group from Southeast Asia who have moved to the neighboring state of Minnesota since the 1970s. Thousands of Hmong fought in a "secret army" that the Central Intelligence Agency assembled to fight communism there in the 1970s. The State Department has granted them special visa consideration as an expression of U.S. gratitude.
.
Vang, 36, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, which has about 25,000 Hmong, according to the 2000 census. They make up a larger percentage of the population there than they do in any other U.S. city.
.
Clashes between white and Laotian hunters are not unknown. Some Laotians have complained that whites harass them with racial taunts, while some whites say not all Laotians respect property rights. The killings were on private land.
.
In the wake of the killings, fear has surged in St. Paul through the Hmong community, where police cars were posted in front of some Hmong-owned businesses.
.
A group of prominent Hmong-Americans, eager to distance their community from the killings and head off a possible backlash, held a news conference in St. Paul.
.
"We stand before you as representatives of the greater law-abiding Hmong community to unconditionally - unconditionally - condemn these atrocities," said Cha Vang, one of the group's spokesmen. "What happened in Wisconsin is in no way representative of the Hmong people and what they stand for."
.
HAYWARD, Wisconsin Twenty-four years ago, a youth named Chai Soua Vang was part of the first wave of immigrants from Laos who came to the United States after the Indochina war. He later married, worked as a truck driver, fathered six children, learned to speak English fluently and became a U.S. citizen.
.
On Sunday, according to the police, he shot eight hunters in a bloody spree that has left the region dumbfounded. Five of the hunters died Sunday, and a sixth died in the hospital Monday night. Vang is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, pending the filing of formal charges.
.
Sheriff James Meier of Sawyer County said at a news conference on Monday that a couple of the hunters had discovered Vang in their private hunting platform and asked him to leave. He did so, but after walking 120 feet, or about 35 meters, he suddenly stopped.
.
"For some apparent reason, he turned around and opened fire," Meier said. "The action makes no sense."
.
Vang told the police that he had opened fire after the hunters had cursed him with racial epithets and that one of them had shot at him.
.
According to the statement, Vang said several of the hunters surrounded him, swore at him and threatened him after he climbed down from the platform. He said that after he had walked about 60 feet from the hunters, he turned and saw one of them point a rifle at him.
.
"Vang immediately dropped to a crouch position, and the subject shot at Vang," the report said, summarizing his account. "The bullet hit the ground 30 to 40 feet behind Vang."
.
"Vang shot two times at the man with the rifle, and the man dropped to the ground," the report said. It did not give any explanation for why the other victims, some of whom who had raced to the scene in an all-terrain vehicle to help their friends, were shot.
.
The police statement said that as Vang looked down the trail and saw that one of the hunters was still standing he yelled, "You're not dead yet?" and shot again.
.
No lawyer accompanied Vang when he made the statements. The report says he waived his right to have one present.
.
Family deer hunts at the end of November are a deeply rooted tradition here in the North Woods, so it was perhaps inevitable that several of the victims were related. Two were father and son. Another two were father and daughter.
.
Vang is one of more than 45,000 members of the Hmong ethnic group from Southeast Asia who have moved to the neighboring state of Minnesota since the 1970s. Thousands of Hmong fought in a "secret army" that the Central Intelligence Agency assembled to fight communism there in the 1970s. The State Department has granted them special visa consideration as an expression of U.S. gratitude.
.
Vang, 36, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, which has about 25,000 Hmong, according to the 2000 census. They make up a larger percentage of the population there than they do in any other U.S. city.
.
Clashes between white and Laotian hunters are not unknown. Some Laotians have complained that whites harass them with racial taunts, while some whites say not all Laotians respect property rights. The killings were on private land.
.
In the wake of the killings, fear has surged in St. Paul through the Hmong community, where police cars were posted in front of some Hmong-owned businesses.
.
A group of prominent Hmong-Americans, eager to distance their community from the killings and head off a possible backlash, held a news conference in St. Paul.
.
"We stand before you as representatives of the greater law-abiding Hmong community to unconditionally - unconditionally - condemn these atrocities," said Cha Vang, one of the group's spokesmen. "What happened in Wisconsin is in no way representative of the Hmong people and what they stand for."
.

See more of the world that matters - click here for home delivery of the International Herald Tribune.
< < Back to Start of Article HAYWARD, Wisconsin Twenty-four years ago, a youth named Chai Soua Vang was part of the first wave of immigrants from Laos who came to the United States after the Indochina war. He later married, worked as a truck driver, fathered six children, learned to speak English fluently and became a U.S. citizen.
.
On Sunday, according to the police, he shot eight hunters in a bloody spree that has left the region dumbfounded. Five of the hunters died Sunday, and a sixth died in the hospital Monday night. Vang is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, pending the filing of formal charges.
.
Sheriff James Meier of Sawyer County said at a news conference on Monday that a couple of the hunters had discovered Vang in their private hunting platform and asked him to leave. He did so, but after walking 120 feet, or about 35 meters, he suddenly stopped.
.
"For some apparent reason, he turned around and opened fire," Meier said. "The action makes no sense."
.
Vang told the police that he had opened fire after the hunters had cursed him with racial epithets and that one of them had shot at him.
.
According to the statement, Vang said several of the hunters surrounded him, swore at him and threatened him after he climbed down from the platform. He said that after he had walked about 60 feet from the hunters, he turned and saw one of them point a rifle at him.
.
"Vang immediately dropped to a crouch position, and the subject shot at Vang," the report said, summarizing his account. "The bullet hit the ground 30 to 40 feet behind Vang."
.
"Vang shot two times at the man with the rifle, and the man dropped to the ground," the report said. It did not give any explanation for why the other victims, some of whom who had raced to the scene in an all-terrain vehicle to help their friends, were shot.
.
The police statement said that as Vang looked down the trail and saw that one of the hunters was still standing he yelled, "You're not dead yet?" and shot again.
.
No lawyer accompanied Vang when he made the statements. The report says he waived his right to have one present.
.
Family deer hunts at the end of November are a deeply rooted tradition here in the North Woods, so it was perhaps inevitable that several of the victims were related. Two were father and son. Another two were father and daughter.
.
Vang is one of more than 45,000 members of the Hmong ethnic group from Southeast Asia who have moved to the neighboring state of Minnesota since the 1970s. Thousands of Hmong fought in a "secret army" that the Central Intelligence Agency assembled to fight communism there in the 1970s. The State Department has granted them special visa consideration as an expression of U.S. gratitude.
.
Vang, 36, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, which has about 25,000 Hmong, according to the 2000 census. They make up a larger percentage of the population there than they do in any other U.S. city.
.
Clashes between white and Laotian hunters are not unknown. Some Laotians have complained that whites harass them with racial taunts, while some whites say not all Laotians respect property rights. The killings were on private land.
.
In the wake of the killings, fear has surged in St. Paul through the Hmong community, where police cars were posted in front of some Hmong-owned businesses.
.
A group of prominent Hmong-Americans, eager to distance their community from the killings and head off a possible backlash, held a news conference in St. Paul.
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"We stand before you as representatives of the greater law-abiding Hmong community to unconditionally - unconditionally - condemn these atrocities," said Cha Vang, one of the group's spokesmen. "What happened in Wisconsin is in no way representative of the Hmong people and what they stand for."
.HAYWARD, Wisconsin Twenty-four years ago, a youth named Chai Soua Vang was part of the first wave of immigrants from Laos who came to the United States after the Indochina war. He later married, worked as a truck driver, fathered six children, learned to speak English fluently and became a U.S. citizen.
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On Sunday, according to the police, he shot eight hunters in a bloody spree that has left the region dumbfounded. Five of the hunters died Sunday, and a sixth died in the hospital Monday night. Vang is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, pending the filing of formal charges.
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Sheriff James Meier of Sawyer County said at a news conference on Monday that a couple of the hunters had discovered Vang in their private hunting platform and asked him to leave. He did so, but after walking 120 feet, or about 35 meters, he suddenly stopped.
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"For some apparent reason, he turned around and opened fire," Meier said. "The action makes no sense."
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Vang told the police that he had opened fire after the hunters had cursed him with racial epithets and that one of them had shot at him.
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According to the statement, Vang said several of the hunters surrounded him, swore at him and threatened him after he climbed down from the platform. He said that after he had walked about 60 feet from the hunters, he turned and saw one of them point a rifle at him.
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"Vang immediately dropped to a crouch position, and the subject shot at Vang," the report said, summarizing his account. "The bullet hit the ground 30 to 40 feet behind Vang."
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"Vang shot two times at the man with the rifle, and the man dropped to the ground," the report said. It did not give any explanation for why the other victims, some of whom who had raced to the scene in an all-terrain vehicle to help their friends, were shot.
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The police statement said that as Vang looked down the trail and saw that one of the hunters was still standing he yelled, "You're not dead yet?" and shot again.
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No lawyer accompanied Vang when he made the statements. The report says he waived his right to have one present.
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Family deer hunts at the end of November are a deeply rooted tradition here in the North Woods, so it was perhaps inevitable that several of the victims were related. Two were father and son. Another two were father and daughter.
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Vang is one of more than 45,000 members of the Hmong ethnic group from Southeast Asia who have moved to the neighboring state of Minnesota since the 1970s. Thousands of Hmong fought in a "secret army" that the Central Intelligence Agency assembled to fight communism there in the 1970s. The State Department has granted them special visa consideration as an expression of U.S. gratitude.
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Vang, 36, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, which has about 25,000 Hmong, according to the 2000 census. They make up a larger percentage of the population there than they do in any other U.S. city.
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Clashes between white and Laotian hunters are not unknown. Some Laotians have complained that whites harass them with racial taunts, while some whites say not all Laotians respect property rights. The killings were on private land.
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In the wake of the killings, fear has surged in St. Paul through the Hmong community, where police cars were posted in front of some Hmong-owned businesses.
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A group of prominent Hmong-Americans, eager to distance their community from the killings and head off a possible backlash, held a news conference in St. Paul.
.
"We stand before you as representatives of the greater law-abiding Hmong community to unconditionally - unconditionally - condemn these atrocities," said Cha Vang, one of the group's spokesmen. "What happened in Wisconsin is in no way representative of the Hmong people and what they stand for."
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http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/11/24/news/hunter.html

RICE LAKE, Wis. Nov 26, 2004 — In a close-knit town where many families gather this time of year to hunt deer, residents instead are sharing their grief for six hunters shot and killed in Wisconsin's northwoods.

Orange ribbons tied around the lampposts along Main Street pay tribute to the hunters, as do bows adorning some business signs and car antennas in this northwestern Wisconsin town of about 8,500.

The deaths have saddened virtually the entire community, said Bob Stanonik, who was selling Christmas trees on Main Street as up to 200 people mourned Mark Roidt, 28, at the first of the funerals.

"There's nobody that's not touched in town," he said.

Court records show Vang, a Hmong immigrant, told authorities the others surrounded him and used racial slurs before one fired a shot at him. One of the survivors gave a different account, saying Vang started shooting first.

At a snowy cemetery outside town Friday, small groups of people hugged after Roidt's funeral service, which was closed to reporters. Jodi Anderson, a restaurant cook at Dobie's BWR, where Roidt often ate, said the deaths have stunned many in the community.

"I'm very angry. This is so wrong," she said.

Friends described Roidt as an outgoing man who loved hunting, motorcycling and other motor sports and was a jack-of-all-trades in carpentry and construction work.

Family friend Pat Malesa said the victim's mother, Karen Roidt, told mourners that at least her son died doing something he loved. Many in the area consider the deer hunting season a holiday; the season ends Sunday night.

"The hunting week up here is called holy week," Stanonik said. "Families get together, father, son, grandson."

Also Friday, mourners gathered in Rice Lake for the wakes of Allan Laski, 43, and father and son Robert and Joey Crotteau. Funerals for all three are set for Saturday.

At Laski's wake, mementoes of his passion for the outdoors were everywhere, including a photo album with Laski on its cover, smiling as he posed with an elk he shot during a hunting trip. The inside lid of his casket featured a scene of a whitetail buck standing at attention.

Elsewhere, the caskets of the Crotteaus were lined up end-to-end at a Roman Catholic church, flanked by flowers, some of those who attended said. A black-and-red racing cap that Joey Crotteau often wore was tucked into his casket, according to family friend Sandy Barney. And photos of the men while they were hunting and snowmobiling, or at the family cabin, were displayed.

"It's too much right now," said Dan Crotteau, 40, a cousin of the victims. "A lot of people are angry."

On Monday, funerals will be held for Dennis Drew and Jessica Willers.

Mourners gather near the gravesite of Mark Roidt, 28, of Rice Lake, after funeral and burial services for Roidt at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Dobie, Wisc., Friday, Nov. 26, 2004. The funeral for Roidt was the first to be held for six deer hunters shot and killed in northwestern Wisconsin Sunday. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=285297

posted November 27, 2004 06:58 PM            

Eitherway, their's no telling what really happened, we weren't there, but I've also seen things go on like this before and maybe this was taken too far!

All I can tell you is if I was in that situation and any of them took a shot at me and I had a firearm, I wouldn't think twice about firing back at them! It's either them or me, I choose them! And wouldn't think any less from anyother person in that situation either!

Some people just think that they are untouchable, they should have reconsidered!

posted November 28, 2004 02:01 AM            

Brent Good, a friend of one of the slain hunters, lights candles during a vigil Monday in Birchwood, Wisconsin.
Image:

HAYWARD, Wisconsin (CNN) -- The suspect in the shooting deaths of six deer hunters in northwest Wisconsin told investigators he fired at the hunters after they made racial slurs and shot at him, according to an affidavit released Tuesday.

The suspect -- 36-year-old Chai Vang of St. Paul, Minnesota -- was jailed on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, with bail set at $2.5 million.

Sawyer County Sheriff James Meier said the shootings were prompted by a dispute over a tree stand -- used by hunters waiting for game -- on the first weekend of Wisconsin's deer hunting season.

But Vang told Sawyer County sheriff's investigator Gary Gillis that the shootings didn't come about solely because of his use of the tree stand, which was on private property.

Five members of the hunting party -- Robert Crotteau, 42, and his son, Joey Crotteau, 20; Al Laski, 43; Mark Roidt, 28; and Jessica Willers, 27 -- were found dead on the scene. The sixth, 55-year-old Denny Drew, died Monday evening at a hospital in Marshfield.

Jessica Willers' father, Terry Willers, and another hunter, Lauren Hesebeck, were wounded but survived.

In an arrest affidavit, Gillis said Vang told him he mistakenly wandered onto the 400-acre property co-owned by Willers and Crotteau. Vang told investigators he didn't know he was on private property and did not see any "no trespassing signs."

Gillis said Willers spotted Vang in the deer stand and ordered him to leave the property, then used a walkie-talkie to notify the rest of the hunting party at a nearby cabin.

In the same affidavit, Gillis quotes Hesebeck as saying Vang walked away from the group after exchanging words with someone. Vang got 40 yards away, removed the scope from his rifle, turned and began shooting, in some cases pursuing the hunters when they ran away, Hesebeck said.

Hesebeck said Willers shot back before being wounded himself.

But Gillis said that according to Vang's version of events, the suspect had started to walk away as the group of hunters summoned by the first man surrounded him, and one of the men began to call him names. After he was 100 feet away, Vang said, he saw one of the men, who had a rifle, take it off his shoulder. Vang said the man shot at him but missed.

Vang said he then removed the scope from his rifle and began shooting, according to Gillis. One of the hunters was shouting, "help me, help me," but Vang said he chased him and shot him in the back.

Vang said he also saw hunters coming toward him in an all-terrain vehicle, one of them carrying a rifle. Vang said he shot at them and both men fell off the vehicle.

Vang said when he returned to the site where the shootings began, he saw one of the men still standing.

"You're not dead yet?" Vang said he asked the man. He then shot in the man's direction but doesn't know if the man was hit.

Gillis said only one rifle was found at the scene, near Roidt's body. However, Vang said the hunters had several guns.

Vang came to the United States from Laos in 1980 and became a U.S. citizen. The married father of six is a truck driver in St. Paul.

He had no criminal record in the United States except for a domestic incident three years ago in which he allegedly waved a handgun at his wife, who later declined to press charges against him, the sheriff's office said.

Some of those killed had multiple gunshot wounds. The shooter used an SKS 7.62 mm semiautomatic rifle, a variant of the AK-47, the sheriff's office said. That type of rifle is common among hunters.

Two bodies were found near each other, and the others were found over a 100-yard area, Meier said.

After the shootings, Vang got a ride with another hunter not connected with the incident. He was taken into custody as he emerged from the woods.

The killings stunned Exeland, a village of 219 people about 135 miles northeast of Minneapolis.

Barron County Sheriff Tom Richie said the victims were "well-known, well-respected members of the community."

The six people who died were from the Rice Lake area near Birchwood. The Rice Lake Hunters Survivors and Victims Fund has been created to help their families.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/LAW/11/23/hunters.shot/

posted November 28, 2004 03:12 AM            

I do think however that if someone shoots at me, I would have taken that as more of an attempt on my life, rather then some spiteful hate maneuver and of course I would have done everything just to protect myself.

IF they hated me(before hand and I was Vang), I would have said that now they have every reason to hate me, I took something of their's that's alot more precious then property space for the time being!

The way I feel about it mostly, if somebody had a firearm and I had a firearm and that person shoots at me(as I'm walking away from them, evidently aiming for my back), that person best aim to kill me!

Besides, what makes you think that he was chasing after them, it could be the other way around you know. They could have been chasing after him, but some people are faster runners then others.

posted November 28, 2004 03:42 PM              

All the folks are DEAD, ok? He could say anything he wants. There is no one to refute it.

They are in the middle of the WOODS, ozone.. they cant just call the cops to "remove" him.

I dont think this is a racism issue. Please dont fall into the attitude "that is all a bunch of redneck racist WI hunters." Thats just as bigoted as your assumption that these hunters thought they could kill a Hmong and they are "untouchable."

You dont live in WI, dont assume you know what the culture is like here.

posted November 28, 2004 10:29 PM              

As you said Ozone, we dont know for sure who shot first. We also dont know if the hunters really did yell racial slurs at him or not. You seem to figure that they really did. How are you so sure?

What if it was the other way around? What if the Hunters were Hmong and the tresspasser/killer was white? What if he also said that the hunters were yelling racial slurs at him? Would you still think it was a racial issue?

I just think it was an unfortunate situation where some bad decisions were made by both parties and the result was tragic.

posted November 29, 2004 01:20 AM            

I also heard that they were diehard Christains too, I guess it's OK to shoot non-whites and cheer for a homosexual's death like that of Matthew Shepard's, but God forbid that they end up with the same fate! I wonder what they read to think that Jesus is OK when Godly whites commit cold blooded murder, or at least try to?!

posted November 29, 2004 10:06 AM            

I know you would like this shooting incident to be the result of racism and better still if you could also tie in a fundamentalist religious connotation.

Mob of rabid right wing Christian fundamentalists armed with military assault weapons, attack lost ethnic minority with bullets and ethnic slurs who wandered onto their paramilitary training grounds.

posted November 29, 2004 11:42 AM            

Murder suspect spends years by fighting American war in the country of Laos, enlists in the US Army, learns to speak English fluently, becomes working class US citizen, becomes a married man and father of six, honors national past-time, just to through it all the way within an hour for the sake of taking revenge on an elder, American, hillbilly, redneck, backwoods, "no name" for the crimes he committed in Asia on his people many, many, many moons ago!

Now wouldn't that be something that those people in the Mid-west would love to read instead JW?!

Maybe to read this later down the road too as well:

posted November 29, 2004 12:39 PM            

quote:

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Murder suspect spends years by fighting American war in the country of Laos, enlists in the US Army, learns to speak English fluently, becomes working class US citizen, becomes a married man and father of six, honors national past-time, just to through it all the way within an hour for the sake of taking revenge on an elder, American, hillbilly, redneck, backwoods, "no name" for the crimes he committed in Asia on his people many, many, many moons ago!

---

Show the US ever conducted a ground war in Laos and that the accused was part of that American military force in Laos.

Show there is a backwoods, redneck enclave in Minnesota which fought against his people in Laos.

Show deer hunting is the National Pastime.

quote:

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"...found plot to murder by the large varied Jackie Chan movie collection to study from, even down to the uncut,uncensored version of 'Drunken Master' and also 'Drunken Monkey' was found..."

---

posted November 29, 2004 02:55 PM            

Actually my last post was just joking around, some people now-a-days call it (sarcasm?), but the right feel that laugher is a form of expression that was created by Satan, unless(of course)it's used as they do sick and twisted things to other human-beings!

Instead of a "Holy War" and an ethnic cleansing, conservatives should take up personality classes or at least rent one out from time to time!

posted November 29, 2004 06:07 PM              

also vang acknowledged in his own statement that he knew several of the people he chased down and shot were unarmed, and that he fled when armed people arrived....

a document filed Monday in wisconsin also alleges vang changed his story when talking to authorities about what happened. It says he initially told investigators that the first hunter he encountered in the woods took his gun and shot the others --

also, there was an unsolved murder a few years ago further north....a landowner was shot in the back and killed, the only lead in that case was that a witness saw 3 asians in a pickup in the area...so theyr looking at vang in that case too....

vang also had an outstanding warrant for trespassing on private property while hunting in wisconsin in 2002....

posted November 29, 2004 06:23 PM            

People forget that their also was an all-terrain vehicle involved, how would he know that their wasn't any weasons inside and that the victims weren't reaching for them? And you say that he fled the scene when armed men arrived, but the police say that when they got there, he was still firing off his weapon! I guess the police don't carry firearms on duty in Minnesota, they leave that kind of detail to only the "professional civilians", right?

I guess the motto in that area of Wisconsin is, "Don't be nosing around in Rice Lake if you Asian-American, for if their is ever a murder that goes down around here, you'll be the first ones we will accuse of it!"!

quote:

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actually there are 2 surviving witnesses of the 8 who were shot, these two say it was vang who fired first....

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posted November 29, 2004 06:34 PM              

btw this occured in wisconsin, vang travelled from minnesota

also btw, ballistics cant say who fired first

posted November 29, 2004 07:19 PM            

quote:

---

Show the US ever conducted a ground war in Laos and that the accused was part of that American military force in Laos.

---

Negotiations held in Geneva, Switzerland(arch enemies of the American Neo-cons), resulted in the division of Vietnam into northern and southern zones. The United States gradually entered the conflict as allies of the new South Vietnamese government. In North Vietnam, the Viet Minh set up a Communist regime and attempted to reunify the country. As the Vietnam War erupted and spread into neighboring Laos, agents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruited Hmong to fight against the Communists. Under the leadership of Vang Pao, a Hmong officer in the Lao military, the Hmong waged guerrilla warfare against the Communists in Laos and Vietnam from 1961 to 1975. Hmong soldiers monitored and attacked enemy supply lines, rescued downed American pilots, and ambushed Communist soldiers. They also guarded radar installations in northern Laos used to guide American bombers over Laos and North Vietnam. At the war’s peak, Vang Pao commanded a force of nearly 30,000 men. The whole operation remained secret because it violated an agreement guaranteeing the neutrality of Laos that was signed by the United States and 13 other countries in 1961.

Chai Soua Vang(our friend that we like to blame for murder, not to get mixed up with Vang Pao) is one of more than 45,000 members of the Hmong ethnic group from Southeast Asia who have moved to the neighboring state of Minnesota since the 1970s. Thousands of Hmong fought in a "secret army" that the Central Intelligence Agency assembled to fight communism there in the 1970s. The State Department has granted them special visa consideration as an expression of U.S. gratitude.

Though Chai Soua Vang would have been only three to four years old during that time, his relatives could have fought in the "secret war" for the CIA!

posted November 30, 2004 02:02 AM              

Why would he do it if he didnt think these people had more amunition you ask? Because some people just dont think before they act...thats why. Just as you said "Of course the surviving hunters are going to say Vang shot first" I will say this, Of course Vang is going to say the hunters shot first, what do you expect Vang to say "Yeah I shot them...so what" See that defense works both ways.

I dont think Vang is guilty of the murder that happened three years ago. Theres insufficent evidence to convince me of that. However Vang has been in trouble with the law for pulling a gun on his wife, however he was never arrested because his wife wouldnt cooperate with the police.