STEVENS POINT, WI (WSAU-WAOW) – The case against a Junction City man who allegedly fired a gun at his Hmong neighbors points to racial motivations.
“I don’t know what the hell is wrong with them,” said 80-year-old Henry Kaminski, according to investigators and Newsline 9. The man allegedly accused Hmong people of a variety of crimes while at a hospital, but he claims the gunshots were not meant for anyone. He says he was shooting holes in a burn barrel while drunk.
Kaminski’s neighbors include a Hmong woman with no understanding of English, who told investigators through a translator that she went outside after hearing a gunshot and was shot at by Kaminski, who had a look like, “he was going to kill someone.” The shot was directed into a nearby snowbank.
Sheriff’s deputies were held off by Kaminski for two hours when they arrived. It took a phone call from his daughter to get him to peacefully surrender. He told officers that he was drunk, not crazy, and that he “wouldn’t pull a gun on somebody.”
Fifteen marijuana plants were found growing in Kaminski’s home. He told police they were used for pain management for his back.
Kaminski is charged with three felonies and three misdemeanors in the March 6 incident. Charges of second-degree recklessly endangering safety with use of a firearm and pointing a firearm at another were filed as hate crimes.
