Death boosts toll in hunter rampage to 6

HAYWARD, Wis. — A Minnesota truck driver confronted for hunting on private land opened fire on mostly unarmed hunters, and then picked off others as they rushed to the bloody scene to help, officials said Monday.

Chai Soua Vang, 36, a St. Paul, Minn., resident and former soldier who is married with six children, was arrested five hours after the shooting Sunday.

A sixth person, Denny Drew, 55, died Monday of wounds he suffered in the weekend shootings, Sawyer County Sheriff James Meier confirmed.

Vang, who hasn’t been charged, was being held Monday in the Sawyer County (Wis.) Jail. Vang, who is Hmong, was cooperating but hadn’t admitted to the shootings, authorities said.

Those killed and wounded in the remote Wisconsin woods were part of a group of 14 or 15 hunters on an annual tradition.

All of the victims were from the Rice Lake, Wis., area or had connections there, and their deaths shocked the city of 8,300.

“The worst part is people don’t understand why,” said Karen Heram, who works at the Rice Lake Chamber of Commerce. “It just seems so senseless. There are disagreements over private property, but you don’t do this.”