Hunters killed in WI!!
I just heard about this on another website. Y'all be careful out there!
Here's the story from MSN:
BIRCHWOOD, Wis. - A deer hunter shot and killed five people and wounded three others in northwestern Wisconsin following a dispute about a tree stand during the hunt’s opening weekend, authorities said.
The 36-year-old alleged gunman was arrested Sunday afternoon, Sawyer County sheriff’s officials said. Jake Hodgkinson, a deputy at the county jail, identified the suspect as Chai Vang but would give no additional details.
Paul Schnell, a spokesman for the St. Paul, Minn., police department, said the man was from St. Paul.
The incident began when two hunters were returning to their rural cabin on private land in Sawyer County when they saw the suspect in one of their hunting platforms in a tree, County Chief Deputy Tim Zeigle said. A confrontation and shooting followed.
Unclear who fired first
It’s not known who shot first, Zeigle said.
Both hunters were wounded and one of them radioed to the cabin a quarter mile away. Other hunters responded and were shot. About 20 shots were fired in total, but it’s unclear who shot them, he said.
The dead included a teenage boy and a woman, Zeigle said. A father and son also were among them, he said. Some of the victims were shot more than once.
All five, from the Rice Lake area, were dead when officers arrived in the area in southwestern Sawyer County, he said. Authorities found two bodies near each other and the others were scattered over 100 yards.
“It’s absolutely nuts. Why? Over sitting in a tree stand?” said Zeigle.
Zeigle said the suspect was “chasing after them and killing them,” with a SKS 7.62 mm semiautomatic rifle, a common hunting weapon. Wisconsin’s statewide deer gun hunting season started Saturday and lasts for nine days.
Two young people who were staying in the cabin emerged safely after the shootings.
Suspect got lost in woods
The suspect, who did not have a compass, got lost in the woods and two hunters, not knowing about the shootings, helped him find his way out, Zeigle said. When he emerged, a Department of Natural Resources officer recognized the deer license on his back, given to police by a victim, Zeigle said.
The man was out of bullets and was arrested, Zeigle said.