Hunting safety issues touch Rockbridge, rest of nation
Michael Patterson
Issue date: 2/9/05 Section: News
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David Stack, 44, was a general contractor from Nanjemoy, Md. He had hunted turkey and deer since he was a young boy, and shared his passion for the outdoors with his son Brian. Stack's search for trophy turkeys brought him to Rockbridge County on the opening day of spring gobbler season in April 2003.
When he failed to return from his turkey hunt on the night of April 12, Stack was reported missing. Search and rescue workers found his body in the woods near Saville Hill the next morning-he had been shot in the back.
Chai Soua Vang, the Hmong immigrant charged with shooting six people to death and injuring two others near Birchwood, Wis., recently pleaded not guilty to six counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.
Vang allegedly opened fire on a group of deer hunters with his semiautomatic assault rifle after a dispute over a tree stand. The group confronted Vang because he was hunting on private property. Vang told the group he was trespassing unintentionally; he thought he was on public land. An argument ensued, and that is when surviving witnesses say Vang chased down and killed six members of their hunting party.
The shock surrounding the recent Wisconsin fiasco reminds Rockbridge County residents of Stack's murder, which remains unsolved.
Stack's case is unusual because there are no witnesses and no suspects. According to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, it is uncommon in a hunting-related accident for the shooter not to come forward or offer assistance. Stack's is the first hunting related murder in Virginia since 1990 with an unidentified shooter.
"I don't know how that person can live with themselves," said Tammy Stack, David's wife of 23 years, "Someone is out there who knows what happened and the only right thing to do is come forward."
Tammy is still working to find her husband's killer. She has raised over $36,000 from anonymous donors, to offer as a reward for information leading to the arrest of her husband's killer. So far, no arrests have been made.
When he failed to return from his turkey hunt on the night of April 12, Stack was reported missing. Search and rescue workers found his body in the woods near Saville Hill the next morning-he had been shot in the back.
Chai Soua Vang, the Hmong immigrant charged with shooting six people to death and injuring two others near Birchwood, Wis., recently pleaded not guilty to six counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.
Vang allegedly opened fire on a group of deer hunters with his semiautomatic assault rifle after a dispute over a tree stand. The group confronted Vang because he was hunting on private property. Vang told the group he was trespassing unintentionally; he thought he was on public land. An argument ensued, and that is when surviving witnesses say Vang chased down and killed six members of their hunting party.
The shock surrounding the recent Wisconsin fiasco reminds Rockbridge County residents of Stack's murder, which remains unsolved.
Stack's case is unusual because there are no witnesses and no suspects. According to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, it is uncommon in a hunting-related accident for the shooter not to come forward or offer assistance. Stack's is the first hunting related murder in Virginia since 1990 with an unidentified shooter.
"I don't know how that person can live with themselves," said Tammy Stack, David's wife of 23 years, "Someone is out there who knows what happened and the only right thing to do is come forward."
Tammy is still working to find her husband's killer. She has raised over $36,000 from anonymous donors, to offer as a reward for information leading to the arrest of her husband's killer. So far, no arrests have been made.