November 24, 2004 - Was it a case of cold blooded murder? Was it a case of self defense? Was it a fire-fight in the Wisconsin woods or a frustrated deer hunter stalking human prey? We don’t know and will probably never be able to reach a definitive answer to those questions. We only know now that opening day of the firearms deer season in Wisconsin left four men and one woman dead on the forest floor and another man died in hospital the next day. Two more men were wounded and being treated in hospital.

We know that at least one hunter was armed with a SKS military style semi-automatic rifle with a 20 round clip. We know that he took six human trophies with that weapon. We know that when he was apprehended without incident 4 hours after the incident his rifle was empty. We know that at least one shot was fired in his direction. We don’t know who fired first. That is in dispute and the resolution of that dispute may well determine the outcome of the case against him.

We know that the man facing murder and attempted murder charges was ethnically different from the men who rallied to oust him from the tree-stand located on private property adjacent to the public hunting grounds he thought he was on. We know that he was one of the people called Hmong, America’s allies in the war in Southeast Asia who immigrated here en masse as that battle was lost. We know that he is 36 years old, a six year veteran of the California National Guard now a member of the Individual Ready Reserve. We know that he earned the sharpshooter badge and that his duties in the peace time guard were clerical.

We know that his name is Chai Vang and that he is part of the 24,000 Hmong community of Minneapolis-St. Paul. We know he is married with six children, We know that he was arrested on Christmas Eve 2001 accused of having brandished a gun at his wife and threatening to kill her but the charges were dropped. We know that the police have twice responded to his home on domestic violence calls in the past year but that both were resolved without an arrest.

We know little about the incident itself beyond the names of the dead and wounded. It is too early in the investigation to evaluate the facts. The details of the confrontation have yet to be confirmed and revealed. As is usual at this stage only the barest of outlines have been presented by the authorities sufficient to justify holding the suspect but far short of a body of evidence sufficient to reach any resolution. While Justice walks at a snails pace public passion fueled by press sensationalism races toward a conclusion. We must take care to tread slowly on this walk through the Wisconsin woods.