Survivor recounts shooting of hunters

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, September 13, 2005

HAYWARD, Wis. – A deer hunter wounded in a shooting rampage that killed six others testified Tuesday he fired a shot at the man accused in the killings only after he already had been hit in the arm and the man was trying to shoot him again.

Lauren Hesebeck said he was helping some of his fallen companions when Chai Soua Vang walked toward him, near where some all-terrain vehicles were parked in the woods.

Hesebeck said Vang hollered something to the effect of, “You’re still alive?”

Hesebeck said a shot missed him as he scrambled around an ATV, and he then grabbed a rifle and fired one shot in Vang’s direction.

Hesebeck, one of two hunters wounded in the shootings Nov. 21, told his version of the shootings in the third day of Vang’s murder trial in Sawyer County.

Vang, a 36-year-old Hmong immigrant and truck driver from St. Paul, Minn., is charged with six counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. He faces mandatory life in prison if convicted. Jurors are expected to get the case Friday.

The shootings happened after the hunters got into a confrontation with Vang, whom they accused of trespassing on private land.

Vang’s lawyer said he was frightened when the hunters yelled profanities and racial slurs, and acted in self-defense after someone shot at him first. Prosecutors disputed that and said only one shot was fired at Vang by Hesebeck after the shooting had already begun.

Hesebeck testified Tuesday that an owner of the property, Robert Crotteau, had confronted Hmong hunters on his land three or four times in 2003. “Crotteau referred to them as mud ducks, that he was sick of them coming on his property,” Hesebeck said.

Hesebeck said Tuesday a “mud duck” was a reference to someone from Minnesota, but in a statement to investigators, Hesebeck said a “mud duck” was a Hmong person.

Crotteau, 42, and his 20-year-old son, Joey, were among those killed last November.

Hesebeck testified that in the confrontation, Vang tried to walk away once, and Joey Crotteau blocked him because his father said he wasn’t finished talking to Vang yet. Hesebeck said Robert Crotteau told Vang, “You keep it up, I’m going to kick your ass.”

Hesebeck testified Tuesday that the other hunter who was wounded, Terry Willers, never pointed his gun at Vang or fired a shot. But according to statements the defense entered into court, Hesebeck told his wife hours after the shooting and later told investigators that he believed Willers had fired a shot.

Willers testified Monday that he never fired a shot.