5 Killed in Wisconsin Hunting Dispute

At least five hunters were shot to death and three others were injured after a bloody weekend confrontation with a trespasser during the opening of deer season in rural Wisconsin, officials said today.

“We’re in a state of mourning,” said Barron County Sheriff Tom Richie at a televised news conference. “How could somebody do such a thing?”

Chai Soua Vang, 36, from St. Paul, Minn., was being held without charges in the incident. He was cooperating with authorities, said Sawyer County Sheriff James Meier at the same news conference.

Meier said it was the bloodiest hunting-related event in the rural Wisconsin region that often attracts hunters from Minnesota.

“This is an incredible tragedy, one in which a great family tradition like a deer hunt has turned into such a great loss,” said Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, who offered his sympathies to the families of the dead.

Based on the investigation so far, authorities gave the following chronology:

Hunting season with firearms began Saturday, sort of a holiday time for the region around Birchwood, Wis., said Meier. Hunters are drawn to the rural area, and they are often accompanied by children or other relatives.

Vang was among those who came, the sheriff said, but the suspect got lost. He asked some other hunters for directions and then went to an empty deer stand, located on 400 privately owned acres.

Someone noticed that the private hunting area had an unauthorized occupant and approached to ask him to leave.

The number of people at the confrontation grew before the suspect opened fire with an SKS 7.62-millimeter assault rifle. The semi-automatic weapon, with its empty 20-shot clip, was recovered. It is not unusual to use that weapon to hunt deer, authorities said.

Four men and one woman, all from nearby Rice Lake, Wis., about 15 miles from Birchwood, were killed. Three others were wounded, one critically.

The dead included a teenage boy and a father and son. Some of the victims were shot more than once and the bodies were spread over an area of more than 100 yards.

It was unknown if the hunters returned fire, but only one other gun had been found.

The dead “were all well known and very respected,” Richie said, adding that the Rice Lake community was devastated.

After the shootings, the suspect, who did not have a compass, got lost in the woods and two other hunters who didn’t know about the shootings helped him find his way out.

Vang, an ethnic Hmong, was taken into custody when he emerged from the woods and a Department of Natural Resources officer recognized the deer license on his back from a description given by one of the shooting victims, authorities said.

There was no immediate reason given for the shootings, but the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported today that Hmong hunters have complained about being harassed by other hunters in the past.

There may be a culture gap between Hmong who were accustomed in Laos to hunt wherever they wanted instead of seeking permission to go on private property, the newspaper said.

About 75,000 Hmong have settled in Minnesota in the last 30 years.