Don’t Blame The Gun

Today officers of the Everest Metro Police Department held a memorial service in remembrance for Detective Jason Weiland and four others who were shot dead in a killing spree in three south area communities near Wausau, Wisconsin 5 years ago. Nengmy Vang, who I did work with, at Kolbe Windows & Doors on Wausau’s west side had a troubled 25 year long marriage to his wife Naly.

It got to be well known that there was something wrong with Nengmy. Many, including me, thought he was way too serious. He was never one to tell jokes or share a laugh. No one ever would have thought that he would have actually snapped. The story unfolded. Nengmy, though not physically violent, had grown emotionally abusive towards Naly. Something was indeed very wrong.

The story is heart wrenching of how a man’s life could be caught up in one very bad and downward emotional spiral. Four people were killed. Naly was at Marathon Savings Bank when Nengmy showed up demanding that she signed divorce papers. When she refused to sign, Nengmy ran out to his car. Naly sensed that he was going after a gun. She fled to a nearby Subway. Nengmy then shot and killed two tellers Dianne Look and Karen Barclay. Nengmy then drove to the law offices of law offices of Tlusty, Kennedy and Dirks where Naly’s attorney, Sara Quirt Sann was a partner. Nengmy confronted Sann in her office then killed her. He then fled to his apartment. Police followed him there and set up a safety perimeter. Detective Weiland was shot while attempting to assist with that adding a fourth victim to the list.

Nengmy had barricaded himself in the apartment. He refused to surrender to the officers. Officers estimated that he was gunned down with up to 24 rounds. Nengmy died of his wounds at Wausau’s Aspirus Hospital.

In the arguments pro and con about gun owners rights and gun regulation, the sad story of Nengmy Vang’s murderous spree shows that it is not guns themselves that kill. It is the mental and moral state of the man with the gun.