Posted on 11/23/2004 11:17:04 AM PST by whodeani
Suspect says hunters provoked him
Vang says he was surrounded, called names and shot at before shootings
By JOHN DIEDRICH, LEE BERGQUIST and TOM HELD jdiedrich@journalsentinel.com Posted: Nov. 23, 2004
Hayward - The suspect arrested for shooting eight hunters, killing six of them, says he was surrounded by the group, called derogatory racial names and shot at before he opened fire, according to court records released today.
His account differs sharply from details released Monday by the Sheriff's Department and from the accounts from some of the victims, who describe an essentially unprovoked shooting rampage by Chai Soua Vang, a 36-year-old Hmong man from St. Paul, Minn.
Vang, a truck driver, is suspected in the slayings of six hunters and the wounding of two others, according to a probable cause determination signed by Judge Norman L. Yackel here this morning.
Vang is being held on $2.5 million cash bail.
Officials said the Wisconsin Attorney General's Office will prosecute the case, because of its scope and complexity.
Meanwhile, The two survivors continued to improve, officials said.
Terry Willers, the first hunter shot who was hit in the neck, was upgraded from serious to fair at St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield today.
Lauren Hesebeck, 48, was released from the hospital Monday night before 9 p.m. He was shot in the shoulder.
Theresa Hesebeck, also the sister of Denny Drew, who died Monday night, said the family was trying to regroup on Tuesday morning and that her husband was recovering at home.
"Your place is at home at a time like this," she said.
The couple have a blended family that includes seven children.
David Drew, a brother of Denny Drew, said Tuesday he was trying to come to grips with the death of his brother and close friends.
A prayer vigil is set for 7 tonight at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Haugen, where three of the victims lived.
Complete coverage of this story will appear online later today and in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in the morning.
This can't be happening in Wisconsin, that bastion of PC and cultural tolerance. /sarcasm
Yea, I'm sure the kids were all hankering to go after him.
What a crock.
They called me names so I chased them through the woods and shot them and their children.
Well, who can blame him? He was CALLED NAMES!
Not that I believe the guy, but I HAD wondered who drew first on whom.
Self-defense is hard to claim when seven of the people you shot at didn't have guns. From what have read only one of the eight people had a gun. His self-defense claim is totally baseless.
Good luck with that.
If nobody did, they won't find any bullets to confirm his lame defense.
If they did, it won't answer the question of who shot first.
8 shot 6 killed and he says they shot first. "I dont think so"
Welp, that settles it. Guess they'll have to let him go.
Supposedly, there was only one gun among the hunting party (they weren't actually hunting at the time). So, even if his story were true, what's his excuse for continue to shoot people after the one with the gun went down?
Good point.
The moral of the story is talk nicely to any person who has a loaded weapon.
It will be interesting to see if this turns out to be true that he was threatened. Not that killing everyone (or anyone for that matter) is justified, but it sure is another side of the story that sounds feasable.
A few individual interviews of the shot at survivors should tell the tale rather quickly.
Is this true? First I heard. I thought they all had guns, as in 'hunting party'. Who would be on a hunting party without a gun?
Hard to say what happened in this case, but I have heard tales of hunting experiences that could have turned out just as badly as this. There are more gunbattles over dead elk and stuff like that than many people might think. The thing that gives me real pause here is that so many people died - either the suspect is a crack shot, or maybe he finished a few guys off. Sad times.
Apparently, there is no good Hmong translation for "sticks and stones...".
Who would be on a hunting party without a gun?
Bow hunters.
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