Hayward, Wis. ? A deer hunter went on a rampage last fall, killing six hunters and wounding two others, after he felt insulted, a prosecutor told jurors Saturday. The defense said Chai Soua Vang felt physically threatened by a group of white hunters who tormented him with racial slurs.

Vang’s attorney, Steve Kohn, said Vang, 36, of St. Paul, Minn., started shooting because he believed another hunter fired at him first.

“You will hear him telling you that he felt he was under siege,” Kohn said during the opening day of the trial in Sawyer County. “He knows he was shot at by some very hostile individuals.”

Vang is charged with six counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. If convicted, he faces mandatory life in prison. Wisconsin does not have the death penalty.