Hmong Shooter Picks Wrong Victim
01/11/2007
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The late Cha Vang, 30, a recent Hmong immigrant who spoke little or no English, met James Nichols, 28, of Peshtigo, Wis., who happened to be white, as so many people in Wisconsin still are, and apparently shot him twice in the hands, while both men were hunting squirrels in the north woods.

Unfortunately for Vang, the man he picked to shoot was an ex-convict, who hadn't been socialized not to fight back, and he was apparently able to kill Vang with his hunting knife.

Although he's technically the victim, rather than the attacker, he's been charged with being a "felon in possession of a firearm"—i.e. the little rifle he was using to hunt squirrels. I hope that they're not going to follow through with that charge, and are just using it as an excuse to hold him while they figure out how to explain to "Hmong leaders" that no crime has been committed. However, I can't help remembering that Bernard Goetz did eight months in jail for the technical crime of possessing a firearm, even though he was found to have acted in self-defense.

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Nation — Man's fiancee says he killed Hmong hunter in self-defense in Wisconsin woods “He turns around and tells the guy that he needs to go to a different spot, not necessarily that he needs to leave the area, but that he was molesting his hunt and scaring the squirrels away,” she said. “Jim said the guy started talking in gibberish that he couldn't understand and then fired at him.”

Nichols got hit in the right hand, James said. Then a second shot hit the little finger on his left hand, she said.

Killing Stirs Racial Concerns in North Woods of Wisconsin - New York Times, By BARBARA MINER, January 9, 2007

MILWAUKEE, Jan. 8 — Law enforcement officials said Monday that a Hmong hunter found dead Saturday in northern Wisconsin had been murdered after an “accidental meeting” between the victim and another small game hunter.

The killing has reignited racial tension in Wisconsin’s northern woods, where two years ago a Hmong hunter killed six white hunters and injured two others in a confrontation that included racial epithets.

Details remain sketchy about the latest killing, although there have been news reports that the two men had a confrontation.

“While there is much I would like to tell you, there is much I cannot tell you,” Sheriff James Kanikula said at a news conference Monday in Marinette, Wis., The Associated Press reported.

The finding that the death of the Hmong hunter, Cha Vang, 30, had been intentional was based on an autopsy. The case has been turned over to Wisconsin’s newly elected attorney general, J. B. Van Hollen.

The other hunter, James Nichols, 28, of Peshtigo, Wis., is being detained, but has not been charged in the killing. Mr. Nichols is being held on charges of violating parole and being a felon in possession of a firearm. A convicted burglar, he has been in custody since Saturday, when he showed up at a medical center with a gunshot wound.

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