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.
The police won't necessarily know which,if any, were shot at deer and which were allegedly shot at the interloper. This guy shoots six people who are shooting at him and doesn't receive a scratch? He must be Rambo or Vin Deisel. Or a murderer.
This guy understands this country well --- it's open season on white males and he can get off easy if he claims he's a victim of racism. No matter they had no guns and he's a liar.
That's what I posted last night...believe you're right.
If things were reversed --- a white man trespassing and shooting and killing 6 unarmed Hmong or other minority for calling him an "anglo" or "gringo" or other racist name would not be defended by anyone.
Exactly right.
Whites are calle names all the time in this part of the country --- would you really claim that every time a white is called a "gringo" or "anglo" or other such racial slur that they have the right to start shooting? Can whites in some areas just shoot a group of people for being called "honky" or other such word? That's ridiculous.
Seriously, I could get lost in a phone booth, but I haven't gotten lost since I started carrying a GPS. You can't get to relying on it (I also carry a regular magnetic compass and a USGS topo as well as a spare battery in an inside coat pocket) but it sure is a handy item to double-check your landnav.
That I believe.....
"Heavy gun battles" I don't.........
FWIW, I shot a small eight point yesterday morning at 200 yds. with my .270....he dropped in his tracks. He will make some good jerky...!!
FRegards,
So they allowed him to get down from the tree-stand....then they shot at him...plus the called him names...hmmmmmmm...makes sense to me... Calling him names justifies the killing of six....
His statement basically convicts him out of his own mouth of shooting multiple, helpless, unarmed people.
Moreover, as you note, his story about being fired upon first does NOT hang together. And of course once he is shown to be a liar the jury has the option of rejecting ALL his testimony and statements as unworthy of belief. Which they probably will do.
Placed against the story of the survivor, it should be pretty clear to a jury that Vang pretended to walk away, then deliberately removed his scope and started firing. The survivor states that he attempted to return fire but missed, not surprising under the circumstances.
The only question I have is whether he did this on the spur of the moment, so to speak, or whether he had prior disputes with this family.
In either case, he's going down the river for a long stretch.
Hmmmm... Can a lnk be made between the Madison Wisconsin DJ making racial slurs on the air and these shootings? No doubt liberals would do so if the DJ was conservative...
As I told the owner of the house I knocked at,"This is what happens when you turn a city boy loose in the woods."
I had a compass, but at 60 I find that orienteering in the hills and hollows of WV a bit much. Add in that it was a miserable, rainy day with no sun and a GPS sounds like just the ticket.
We always deer hunt on the same piece of land that belongs to a good friend, and I know the layout of that area pretty well now. But my kids are Scouts and we do a lot of hiking, we camp every summer and fall and hike portions of the AT. The AT is extremely well marked, even I can't lose my way on it, but there are a lot of interesting spur and approach and associated trails that are not always as well marked. We also like to take "waterfall walks" in western NC, and sometimes the directions you get to remote waterfalls aren't the best in the world. A GPS just makes everybody's life a whole lot easier.
We happen to have an older Garmin GPS which we like very much. The company has all price ranges, you can get an entry level basic vanilla GPS for just over $100.
None of his story makes any sense. How do two people surround you? If you are going deer hunting do you drive to Wisconsin, wander into the wood alone, get lost, find a tree stand, kill 6 people, empty your gun, and get lost again....
This sounds more like a three stooges mob hit than a deer hunt.
If you are going to accept the word of a mass murderer that other people called him names, seems to me you can as easily accept his word that they fired at him.
I never said any such thing. You have me confused with someone else, don't have a clue what you're talking about, or both.
unfortunately you'd accept the word of a mass murderer that he shot all those people himself.
Find any comment submitted by me, on any thread related to this shooting, where I said such a thing. Otherwise retract your words.
Why do you think he hadn't seen a lawyer?
Again, I NEVER suggested that he hadn't seen an attorney.
Regardless of who fired first, nothing justifies this shooting of five unarmed people.
Your comments suggest that you've gone off the deep end.
Seems Mr. Vang is going to be a suspect in another killing in the same area 3 years ago!
Seems to me the cops are pursuing all angles and I am in good company. Now, what is it you were trying to cover up?
All of my other comments relate directly to that item.
Interestingly enough you resorted to name-calling at the very end of your little piece suggesting that I was a "DU Troll"!
Only Liberals seek to terminate conversation by name-calling.
You're suggestion is completely asinine. Other than having lived / hunted in WI and having known people in the Ladysmith area, I have no stake in this.
YOu are the fellow who remarked about my comment: "Typical defense attorney spin."
Yes but that has no bearing on the "name calling" issue you raised. It only suggests that I believe the perp has enough street smarts to be able to spew as would a defense attorney.
For the record, I will disbelieve anything stated by the perp, and place full confidence in the words of the victims until all facts are present. I stand with the folks who had a right to be on the land. Not a trespasser.
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