HAYWARD, Wis., Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Racial slurs and self defense led the man accused of the shooting deaths of six Wisconsin deer hunters to open fire on them, CNN reported Wednesday.
Chai Vang, 36, told Sawyer County sheriff's investigators he didn't know he was on private property when he climbed onto an elevated hunting platform. A group of hunters approached and asked him to leave. Vang said they began calling him names as he left, and one man appeared ready to shoot at him.
Vang said he then opened fire himself in the woods outside Exeland, a village of 219 people about 135 miles northeast of Minneapolis.
Five of the hunters died at the scene, and a sixth died Monday night. Two others remain hospitalized.
The shooter used an SKS 7.62mm semiautomatic rifle, a variant of the AK-47, the sheriff's office said, and some of the dead had multiple gunshot wounds.
Vang, a Laotian immigrant and U.S. citizen, was jailed on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, with bail set at $2.5 million.
