Charges: Dad Shot Son Because He Wouldn't Pay For Cable
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- An 84-year-old man is charged with shooting and killing his son after a dispute over the son paying to install cable television in the house, according to charges filed Thursday.
Pang Se Vang is charged with second-degree murder for the shooting death of his son, 36-year-old Chue Vang.
According to the criminal charges, several people were in the house when police arrived in response to the Monday shooting, including the suspect's wife, two sons and one of the son's infant child.
Police spoke to the eldest brother who said he was sleeping upstairs when his mother woke him up and told him his father shot his brother. He came downstairs and found his brother, Chue, who was bleeding and appeared to be dead, according to the charges.
That's when his father walked out of a bedroom holding a shotgun. The son told police he grabbed the gun and wrestled it away from his father but during the struggle, the gun discharged into the ceiling, according to the complaint.
His father then retreated back into the bedroom and closed the door. The son called 911 and left the house with the rifle.
Upon arrival, an officer called the suspect, who was still locked in a bedroom, and asked him to come outside with his hands up. Pang Vang responded that he couldn't come out because he stabbed himself in the chest. He told the officer that he and his son were arguing and that he grabbed his hunting shotgun, pointed it at his son and shot him, according to the charges.
He said he then stabbed himself because he "did not want to settle the issue in court. He would settle the dispute with his son when they reached the afterlife," according to the complaint.
The Ramsey County SWAT team then entered the home and located Pang Vang in a bedroom on the main floor. He was on the bed and covered in blood, according to police. They secured a large, black-handled knife near his hand and transported him to the hospital.
Police also contacted Vang's pastor who said he called him a short time before the shooting. According to the complaint, the pastor said he was upset about the fact that his son would not pay to install cable television in the house. During the argument, his son told his father he could move out of the house, the pastor said.
"What is alleged in the report is over a trivial thing and perhaps there were lots of things that were kind of building up and that led to this extraordinary criminal act of violence," said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi.
Chue Vang was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner said his cause of death is a shotgun wound to the chest.
It all took place less than 200 feet away from the Maplewood Police Department.
"It could have been a lot of more tragic but thank God that it was not," Choi said.
Pang Vang was treated for stab wounds to his abdomen and neck and formally arrested on Wednesday. He is currently at the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center, being held on a $1 million bond.
Vang is the oldest person charged with murder in Ramsey County in the last 30 years.
If convicted, he could face up to 40 years in prison.
The family said Chue Vang will be laid to rest on April 3.