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.
They were calling him names! So he shot eight people and killed six, some with multiple wounds. This sounds like a case for Mark Geragos; he did so well with Scotty.
Since all of the bullets that might have been fired at Vang missed, its anybody's guess as to where they might have landed. If there's no near misses in the tree, they'd be pretty hard to find--they could be a mile away, if they exist at all.
If nothing else, they all know that you ask for a lawyer before anything else. How much do you want to bet that the first words out of his attorney's mouth were "They were all using racial slurs against you, weren't they?"
Well, if he is telling the truth, and it really was 8:1, we have just seen why we lost the Vietnam war.
I'm not sure it's a great technique, but I've seen deer hunters round up people (kids, guys who didn't get permits in a lottery, etc) and do a 'drive' - walking through areas to force deer into the range of hunters.
But this doesn't sound like that. I think most of these people were responding to what they thought was an accidental shooting.
It was the press that called them a hunting party. The press also said the perp was armed with an automatic assault weapon. They were called on that one so they changed their tune. Never put much stock in what the press says when it starts assigning labels to ANYTHING.
He was called names???
Weakest defense ever, fry him.
Get real,if the hunters shot at him they would have hit him.They probaby had scoped rifles like he his or better than a cheap SKS.
CSI TV stars can solve this one.
YEH, who can blame him? Of course, kids on a playground don't get away with that, but ... immigrants, oh YES!! Perhaps in his culture -- which has to be at least as great as ours, doesn't it? (altho below the radar, that's why we don't KNOW about it)-- it is justified to shoot someone who calls you names. Then we must honor that, eh? A bit of Amsterdam comes to America.
"Maybe their guns were lost as they crawled on their bellies in search of deer."
LOL!
I just got word from a friend who lives up north. For what it is worth, Hmong/Caucasian hostility is high in the northern Wi. counties, and into Minnesota. He predicted it would be a racial story early yesterday. I didn't believe him until today. By the way, the WI state legislature is using this to offer up its own Assault Weapons ban.
Here's what I don't understand. You get a call, 'come, help me, someone is shooting at me.' You are hunters but you don't bring your GUNS?
what I want to know is just what was he doing in someone else's deer stand??
These aren't facts they are one person's testimony; what if they shot first but won't admit it? Only those who were there know what happened, and if both sides fired shots we likely never will, since you can't tell who fired first.
The shooter is Laotian. He lives in a large Laotian community and a lot of them hunt too... they ignore trespassing signs.
So now he's sitting in jail watching replays of BasketBrawl on tv.
I live in MN and have worked with alot of Hmongs... If this is an older Hmong that was born in Laos, I believe him... I told my brother that I bet the other hunters were calling him names and stuff, and harrassing him... sounds like I was right...
We didn't loose the Viet Nam War, Pal! Media and politicians gave it away! We won every battle. Get your facts right!
I don't care what names if anty they were calling him. That does not justify killing 6 people.
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