The 2004 Wisconsin Hunting Incident
In November 2004, Chai Soua Vang, a Hmong-American man from St. Paul, Minnesota, shot eight white hunters while trespassing on private land in northern Wisconsin. Six of the hunters were killed, and two were wounded.
- The Confrontation: The incident began after other hunters discovered Vang in a tree stand on private property and told him to leave. An angry verbal confrontation ensued, with both sides offering different accounts of what happened next.
- Claims of Self-Defense: Vang claimed he fired in self-defense after one of the local hunters used racial slurs and fired a shot at him. Survivors, however, testified that no one in their group pointed a gun at Vang before he opened fire, and evidence showed several victims were shot in the back as they fled.
- Trial and Sentence: Vang was found guilty of six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and three counts of attempted homicide by an all-white jury in 2005. He was sentenced to six consecutive life terms plus seventy years in prison without the possibility of parole.
