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Vang Said He Shot Hunters In Self-Defense

Hayward, Wis. (AP) ― A man accused of killing six hunters and wounding two others pretended to hold a rifle as he told jurors in chilling detail how he gunned down the victims -- but he claimed it was only after a shot was fired at him.

Chai Soua Vang said the shootings happened after one of the white hunters used profanities and racial slurs when angrily confronting him for trespassing in a tree stand used to hunt deer last fall.

Vang, a 36-year-old truck driver from St. Paul, Minn., insisted he killed the hunters in self-defense, although the two survivors of the shootings testified earlier that only one shot was fired at Vang, and that was after he had already shot the victims.

Cross-examined by Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, Vang was asked if each victim deserved to die. Vang answered "no" in some cases and "yes" in others.

Asked about Robert Crotteau, who witnesses have said initiated the angry confrontation in the woods, Vang said, "He is the one that confront me the first time and yell at me and call me names. That is who he is."

He repeated his explanation for his actions.

"I did what I had to do to defend myself. I would do what I had to do to stay alive," he said.

And he acknowledged he acted out of anger, not just fear.

"Yes, I was angry and I was scared, not as much angry as scared," he said.

Vang is charged with six counts of first-degree intentional homicide, each carrying a life prison term, plus three counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide.

Closing arguments were scheduled Friday, when the case could go to the jury.

Vang, taking the stand Thursday in the fifth day of his Circuit Court trial, told jurors he came to the United States more than 20 years ago from Laos, and in high school in California he was on the rifle team and earned an expert rating. He said he later served in the National Guard, where he was trained to shoot to kill.

He described himself as an experienced hunter who had hunted in California, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Vang testified he was lost in the woods Nov. 21 when he found the tree stand he thought was on public property and climbed into it to get the lay of the land.

Terry Willers approached and told him he was on private property and should climb down.

"He told me, 'You guys shoot too many does,"' Vang testified. Vang said he told him he had not shot any does that day.

Vang said he began to walk away when he heard Willers speaking on a radio.

He said he heard some all-terrain vehicles start in the distance, and he began walking quickly because he thought they were coming after him. One soon pulled in front of him and another behind him, he said.

Robert Crotteau and his son, Joey, got off one ATV, and Robert Crotteau began swearing at him, asking, "Why the (expletive) you in my son's stand," Vang said.

Crotteau asked whether Vang knew if he was trespassing, then called him a "gook" and a "chink."

"He said, 'Give me your (expletive) license. I'm sick of you (expletive) Asians coming to my land,"' Vang said, raising his voice to a shout. "If you (expletive) Asians keep coming to my land, I'm going to kick your (expletive) a--."

"I thought they were going to beat me or something," Vang said.

Vang said Crotteau at one point came up behind him and flipped over the hunting tag on his back, saying he was going to report him to the Department of Natural Resources and "teach me a lesson."

Also, Joey Crotteau accused him of making an obscene gesture, he said, and as he tried to walk away, he saw Willers take the rifle off his shoulder and point it at him.

He said he dropped to his right, heard a shot and saw dirt kick up from the ground about 40 feet in front of him.

"In my mind, he shot at me and missed," Vang said.

Vang said he quickly removed the scope from his rifle and shot Willers twice. He said everyone else began to scatter, and he thought they were going for what looked like a gun case on the back of one of the ATVs.

Autopsies showed the youngest of the victims, 20-year-old Joey Crotteau, was shot four times in the back or side. Three others -- Robert Crotteau, Al Laski and Jessica Willers -- were shot in the back, some multiple times. Mark Roidt was shot once in the head and Dennis Drew was shot once in the lower chest.

After Vang finished testifying and the jury left the courtroom, Vang turned to about a dozen family members standing nearby. He spoke to them in his native language and began sobbing, dropped to his knees and bowed several times, his hands folded as if in prayer.

His relatives cried along with him.

His mother, Sao Hang, later issued a statement pleading for people to get along.

"All of this could have been prevented if we could just learn to respect each other. Please, I beg you, remember my words," she said in the statement read by her granddaughter, Kia Vang, outside the courthouse.

(© 2005 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)