Thanks for the shooting information.
Tough to believe that all those hunters didn't take him out.
This particular weekend, the ritual was marred by tragedy and senselessness. Six are dead and two wounded, and Chai Soua Vang, 36, of St. Paul, Minn., has been arrested in the Sunday shootings in Sawyer County.
Among the dead and wounded are a father and son and a father and daughter, attesting to the pull of family that binds this ritual together.
And we’re all left wondering: Why?
Was it a dispute over a tree stand on private property that Vang, apparently lost, had no right to be in when he was asked to leave? This would hardly suffice as reason.
A probable-cause statement released by Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager quotes Vang as saying that the group of hunters hurled racial epithets his way and that he felt threatened.
He told investigators that one of the other hunters fired the first shot before he returned fire and that he saw other guns as well.
Still, among those killed were people with no weapons, and only one rifle was found at the scene.
If and when Vang is charged, some clarity might be forthcoming. This shouldn’t stop us, however, from asking questions now.
Some will immediately raise the issue of gun control. The SKS 7.62mm semiautomatic assault weapon, the kind of rifle Vang was carrying, is ill-suited for hunting deer. It is apparently too underpowered to kill a deer with a single shot, the goal of hunters who want to avoid needless suffering.
Alleged shooter was avid hunter Neighbors call him 'standoffish;' brother shocked by allegations