Vang Said 'Evil Shaman' Spoke To Him

BowHuntingFool · 10-13-2005, 07:40 AM

This guy has serious problems. If any sort of criminal background check was done these people would still be with their families. I really feel that there needs to be some sort of link between the DNR and local and state law enforcement.

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(AP) Milwaukee, Wis. A psychiatrist who examined Chai Soua Vang before his trial in the fatal shootings of six hunters said the immigrant had a history of suicidal and homicidal thoughts dating back two decades or more.

The report by psychiatrist Robert Rawski, obtained Wednesday by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, also said Vang believed the voice of an "evil shaman" has spoken to him occasionally since 1995.

"Typically the voice visits him once every two to three months, only when he is particularly angry at somebody who has engaged in a perceived transgression, and tells him to hurt or kill them," Rawski wrote in his report.

Vang, 37, of St. Paul, was found guilty last month at his trial in Sawyer County Circuit Court on six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and three counts of attempted homicide. He is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 8.

Vang contended he fired in self-defense after the other hunters who found him trespassing in a tree stand last November used profanity and ethnic slurs against him and fired a shot at him.

Two survivors of the shooting testified that Vang opened fire first, and that he had already shot some of the hunters by the time a single shot was fired at him.

Defense attorneys asked in August for a review of Vang's mental competency because of his apparent deterioration while held in jail awaiting trial.

Rawski examined him Aug. 19 and reported to Sawyer County Circuit Judge Norman Yackel that Vang suffered from symptoms of a moderately severe major depressive disorder but was competent to assist his lawyers in presenting his defense.

Rawski's report was unsealed by the judge late last week.

According to the report:

--Vang told of being verbally abused and kicked by his father after their family moved to the United States from Laos in 1980.

--Forced to marry at 14, Vang disliked the wife his parents chose for him. He got in a fight with her, and after his father tried to physically discipline him, he ran from home to the freeway and into traffic in an attempt to kill himself.

--In 2001, he pointed a handgun at his wife but didn't fire when his daughter stepped in the line of fire. He spent three days in jail but was not prosecuted. They divorced in 2002.

--While working as an over-the-road trucker, Vang would telephone his wife and get into fights, causing him to consider driving off the road to attempt suicide. He sometimes considered using his truck to run other motorists off the road if they had berated him for going too slow or being in their way.

--Vang's relationship with his second wife was hostile, and he said he choked and almost killed her in 2003 because she had gambled away money he borrowed for a downpayment on rental property.

rick_reno · 10-13-2005, 07:55 AM

How far out can a psych test be before you can get a hunting license?

kevin1 · 10-13-2005, 10:14 AM

Sounds like bullsheit to me ...

gonzodemon · 10-13-2005, 10:38 AM

this guy should have been in texas . he would have had no trouble killing himself . hell i might have even helped the poor man. a short rope a tall tree you get the picture. a person like him needs to be locked away in a cell with about a dozen big burly boyfriends that think he is cute as hell. then after a week of good lovin take him out and put a .22 cal. bullet in the back of his head. justice served............just an opinion . maybe we should give him hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of theropy and in a few years lrt him out because he is cured..........nah first one is better

Champlain Islander · 10-13-2005, 12:02 PM

He'll be hearing voices alright after the first night sharing a cell with one of those big burly inmates who crave a wife. The voices will be his own screaming echoing through the night...after night....after night!

logs · 10-13-2005, 12:09 PM

Bowhuntingfool, you are barking up the wrong tree on this forum suggesting that mentally ill persons should or may having restrictions placed on having or using a weapon for hunting.
There has to be some cross checking and guidelines to prevent things like this in the future.
It does not have to be an absolute black and white, either or rule but there must be some amber light warning system to at least call for a closer look at who has a right to hunt with a firearm after they are diagnosed with mental illness. The risk degree should not be left to the persons personal physician or the persons self diagnosis but a mental health professional. An once in the system they should be call in from time to time to be monitored.
I don"™t know if Vang or his attorneys were considering a "by mental defect " plea but since this was part of the court record it does not appear they believed it would work. It only works in about 1% of the case in which it is used.
You do know Vang is a suspect in other similar hunting related murders in that area.

BowHuntingFool · 10-13-2005, 12:51 PM

logs what are you talking about?????? I NEVER said anything about mentally ill people and I'm not barking up anyones tree. I simply stated that there should be some sort of link between law enforcement and the DNR to keep criminals form getting hunting a license or firearm permit. And if there was some sort of background check this might of not happened because he would of never got a license.

Quote:

In 2001, he pointed a handgun at his wife but didn't fire when his daughter stepped in the line of fire. He spent three days in jail but was not prosecuted.

Quote:

-Vang's relationship with his second wife was hostile, and he said he choked and almost killed her in 2003 because she had gambled away money he borrowed for a downpayment on rental property.

He also got busted for trespassing and never paid his fine! The person he was with paid his fine, Vang didn't! If there was something done about that, the murdered hunters would still be with their families.

logs · 10-13-2005, 05:21 PM

Bowhuntingfool, since he has no prior criminal convictions there would be no record for abackground check to produce. Treaspassing is not a "criminal " offense that would restrict anyones right to hunt unless it was a Game related violation and at least one of three in a certain time frame.
The majority of the things listed there are related to hismental state, not criminal convictions.
In WI a mental illness history that would have involved law enforcement would show up ona background check.
I made the mistake and assumed you knew that and proceeded from there. My error.
And I don't think you really understand what "barking up the wrong tree" means. It has no negitive connotation and none was implied.

I do agree that all applications for hunting licenses should include a criminal background check just as firearms purchases require background checks.
But I go a step further and believe there should be a data base with records of persons with mental illness and their right to have firearms or dangerous weapons should be restricted.
Also a point you may want to be aware of is that any conviction at any level for any domestic violence abuse case totally forbidsthat personwith said conviction to have a firearm. That is not only a WI state law but is Federally mandated. It is like no other law I am aware for, rectroactive with no historic depth restriction.
So if he would have been charged in any of the incidents with his wives he could not have legally had a weapon.

North Texan · 10-13-2005, 05:33 PM

Quote:

But I go a step further and believe there should be a data base with records of persons with mental illness and their right to have firearms or dangerous weapons should be restricted.

So if I'm diagnosed with mild depression, yet enjoy hunting, I shouldn't be able to get a license or own a firearm?

Or maybe if I was depressed and on medication 10 years ago?

boysda · 10-13-2005, 06:56 PM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: North Texan

So if I'm diagnosed with mild depression, yet enjoy hunting, I shouldn't be able to get a license or own a firearm?

Or maybe if I was depressed and on medication 10 years ago?

heck, NT, we all know you're freakin' nuts and shouldn't be allowed access to safety scissors, let alone a firearm...