Chai Vang

Chai Soua Vang (born September 24, 1968), more commonly known as Chai Vang, is an American man who was convicted of first degree intentional Homicide, having pleaded self-defense after allegedly being fired upon.

During the Laotian Civil War, Vang spent most of his childhood in a refugee camp in Thailand before he and his siblings relocated to the United States in 1980 and settled in California.

Vang lived in Sacramento and enlisted in the California National Guard at age 21.

He served from 1989 to 1995, during which time he was decorated with a Good Conduct medal and attained a sharpshooter qualification badge (mid-level, above the rank of Marksman).

Sometime around c. 2000, Vang and his family moved to St. Paul, Minnesota.

Vang is the father of seven children.

He is also a family shaman (txiv neeb) and was a hunting enthusiast.

On Christmas Eve 2001, police responded to a 911 call from Vang's house, according to a Minneapolis Police Department report.

The quarrel allegedly began when Vang said he wanted to go out and his wife, Xiong, did not want him to leave.

Vang's daughter, Kia, recalled running out of her room and seeing her father with a gun.

Police arrested Chai Vang, but charges never were filed because, according to the police, Xiong did not cooperate with investigators.

A few months later, Xiong moved with the couple's five children to live with her parents in Milwaukee.

Vang's second marriage ended after he allegedly nearly choked his wife to death for gambling away $3,000.

On the weekend of the shootings, Vang went out deer hunting with two friends and their two sons in northwest Wisconsin, a region where deer hunting is particularly popular, east of Birchwood, Wisconsin around the town of Meteor.

Meteor extends over a large sparsely populated area.

The land in the area is a mix of public and private.

It is believed that Vang and his friends began their day on public land, but he later went onto a private 400 acre tract of land.

On Sunday, November 21, a hunting party of about 15 people were in a cabin on this private land.

Terry Willers, one of the two co-owners of the land, left the cabin and saw Vang sitting in a deer stand.

Willers used a handheld radio to ask the people still in the cabin whether or not anyone should be in the stand.

Upon receiving a response in the negative, he approached Vang and told him to leave the property and allegedly called Vang racial slurs.

Vang then apologized and started moving south towards a trail through a forested area of the property.

According to Terry Willers' testimony, "As Bob got back on the radio and asked me where he was at and I said, uh, he's heading south down on the food plot right now. I radioed in to the cabin that I had a tree-rat and I had chased him off."

At that point five of the hunters from the cabin who had heard the radio message arrived at the tree stand.

Lauren Hesebeck, a surviving victim, stated "Bob had said I'm going to go talk to him to find out who he is, why he's there, and make sure he doesn't, you know, knows that he's on private property and that he's not welcomed there. Denny had said to me this ought to be interesting, let's go and see what's going on. We got in the back of it standing up (ATV), hanging on the rear bar."

After following the directions given by Terry Willers, they proceeded to approach Vang further down the trail.

Crotteau then suggested making a note of his hunting license number to make a report to the DNR and, according to Hesebeck's testimony, Crotteau flipped over the hunting tag on Vang's back to get his license number.

The events after the confrontation are disputed.

A violent altercation broke out and four of the eight victims were shot in the back, and three of these four were hit by multiple rounds.

Vang is believed to have fired about 20 rounds from a Saiga rifle chambered in 7.62×39mm, which was recovered by police.

One of the wounded hunters died the next day, bringing the toll to six dead and two wounded.

Vang raised his rifle in one smooth, continuous sweeping motion as he circled right, kneeled, and aimed at Terry Willers.

Vang later said, “If I don’t shoot him, he would shoot me.” Hours after the shooting, Hesebeck told his wife that Willers did fire at Vang, though he later testified claiming that no one pointed a gun at or fired at Vang.

Vang's first shot missed Willers as he ran and dove for cover, but Willers landed atop his rifle and couldn't turn over before Vang's second shot hit his lower left neck, neutralizing him.

Vang instantly turned toward the men on their machines and shot Roidt, the round killed him before he fell, as his ATV, still in gear, moved slowly forward.

Vang then shot and killed Drew.

As the Crotteaus fled in fear, Vang fired three shots at Hesebeck at close range while chasing him around the ATV.

Vang, a six-year veteran of the California National Guard, shot eight people while he was trespassing upon a hunting group in northern Wisconsin on November 21, 2004; six were killed and two were wounded.

Vang, who lived in Saint Paul, Minnesota at the time of the shootings, is imprisoned at the Anamosa State Penitentiary, as of 2006.

Vang was born in Laos to a family of Hmong descent.