Posted on 11/24/2004 5:52:47 PM PST by JLO
Posted on Wed, Nov. 24, 2004
Hunter spotted Vang after shootings
Associated Press
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - Daryl Gass came across a man lost in the woods and pointed him down a logging road. Only later did he learn the man, who seemed polite but nervous, was suspected of killing six hunters and wounding two others.
"He didn't seem winded or sweaty," Gass, 41, of New Auburn, told the Leader-Telegram of Eau Claire for a story Wednesday.
Gass first saw Chai Vang around 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Vang said he was lost, Gass said.
He recognized the road Vang was looking for, but the man didn't have a compass so Gass said he advised him to follow a busy logging road.
"He said, `I don't really want to go that way,'" Gass told the newspaper. "I thought that was odd."
Gass said he wanted to tell Vang, who was wearing a camouflage jacket, it was dangerous to walk in the woods without blaze orange.
"I had a feeling not to say anything and let it go," Gass said. "He seemed peculiar. I didn't want to push any buttons."
Gass told the newspaper he radioed his 18-year-old son so he wouldn't mistake the camouflaged Vang for a deer. His son saw Vang walk on a logging trail for about 15 yards and said he was "hoofing it pretty fast."
Gass' phone number was unpublished and he could not be reached Wednesday by The Associated Press.
Before Vang approached him, Gass heard shots from the murder scene but attributed them to hunting activity.
"If he was shooting the victims, it was one or two shots at a time, and he was taking some aim," Gass said.
About 20 minutes after Vang left, hunters on an all-terrain vehicle approached Gass, telling him someone was shooting hunters. Gass, his son and a friend scrambled from their tree stands.
"I'm a sitting duck up there, and my son is a sitting duck. We kept our guns loaded if he was sniping people," he said.
Gass's hunting party reached authorities as armed officers, dogs and helicopters scoured the area.
"The sheriff said, `You're lucky to be alive. As far as I'm concerned, the guy was taking out witnesses,'" Gass told the paper.
Vang, 36, of St. Paul, Minn., was arrested a few hours later as he emerged from the woods. He's being held on $2.5 million bond. The state attorney general said charges were expected Monday at the earliest.
Gass has hunted on the land since 1991 and said he won't let Sunday's tragedy ruin the sport.
"I don't relate it to hunting," he said. "You can be in a bank or grocery store and somebody can come in and kill people. You still got to buy groceries."
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Leader-Telegram, http://www.leadertelegram.com/
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If you want on/off the WI Hunters ping list, please let me know.
Yeah, but typically we're all not so heavily armed in those venues.
I forgot to say! The heading is Politics!!!!!! See linked article.
That Lots-a-Lager is on this doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy. She and Doyle had better not screw this one up.
Common sense.
Seems to indicate no return fire. Otherwise, it would seem there would have been lots of rounds fired fast.
If we were, there would be less crime.
Holy Cow. Am I glad my daughter and I decided to skip deer season this year. We don't hunt in Sawyer County, but we're close enough that this one makes me shudder.
If I recall, Vang had already shot up all his ammo. This is probably the only thing that saved Gass's life.
That hunter has a lot to give thanks for this Thanksgiving.
Hardly the actions of someone so terrified that he didn't know the difference between right and wrong, is it?
Thanks for the ping. Information is going to continue to trickle out for at least a week, I'd guess.
You know what? I think these people are all freaks. What the hell kind of a remark is that?
I got to read the police reports and Vangs confession ...he is a low life scum bag...
I hope that if he is shown to be the one who murdered the hunter in my home town area
they get the other two Hmongs accomplises...
What people?
"What the hell kind of a remark is that?"
What are you talking about?
It's called instinct...some people have it and some dont..
Speak for yourself.........
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