HAYWARD, Wis. — A group of family and friends offered emotional testimony Tuesday describing how an annual hunting gathering descended into murder and tragedy in a matter of minutes.

Jurors in the first-degree murder trial of Chai Soua Vang also heard from one of two survivors of the attack, who testified that he opened fire on the defendant after he and his friends were shot at first.

Lawyers for Vang, who faces life in prison on six counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder, have said the defendant will testify that he opened fire on the hunting party in self-defense after a dispute over his trespassing on private property.

Prosecutors say Vang used excessive force in the shootings, particularly in his decision to shoot victim Lauren Hesebeck twice, for which Vang was charged with two counts of attempted murder.

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Jurors learned for the first time Tuesday that one member of the party in fact opened fire at Vang on Nov. 21, 2004. But Hesebeck testified he only did so after Vang fired first.

He apparently was unable to hit Vang, and after he returned fire, he said, Vang approached him.

"You're not dead yet?" Vang said, according to Hesebeck, and then shot at him again.

Vang injured Hesebeck and his friend, Terry Willers, who was the only one carrying a weapon.

He killed six others, including Hesebeck's brother-in-law and Willers' daughter.

Willers testified Monday in Sawyer County Circuit Court that Vang was unprovoked in the attack, opening fire on the party after they let him go with a warning never to trespass on the land he owned with friend and shooting victim Robert Crotteau.

Willers said he discovered Vang sitting in a tree stand known as "Carter Crotteau's old tree stand," named for Robert Crotteau's youngest son, and radioed back to the cabin to notify the group.

Hesebeck spoke more candidly than Willers about the confrontation between Vang and the hunters, who had gathered their family and friends for the opening weekend of deer-hunting season.

"Bob said he was going to talk to him and find out who he is, why he's here and let him know he's on private property and not welcome," Hesebeck testified.

Hesebeck and three others accompanied Robert Crotteau, including Crotteau's 20-year-old son Joey, to talk to Vang.

"Is it fair to say Mr. Crotteau used the F-word?" Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager asked, addressing defense claims that Vang was provoked by the hostile actions and words of the victims. "Or how about, 'You f---ing a--holes are always on my property?"

"Yes, he did," Hesebeck said.

The witness denied that any of the men made threatening gestures, grabbed or restrained Vang.

Similar to Willers' testimony, Hesebeck said that after the men took down the defendant's deer-license number and sent him on his way, they left thinking the issue was settled.

But, Hesebeck testified, he watched Vang walk about 30 yards down into the woods, before Vang removed the scope from his rifle and opened fire.

"We were like rats scrambling, figuring out what to do," the car salesman from Rice Lake testified.

On cross-examination, Vang's defense implied that the confrontation before the shootings was not as innocuous as Hesebeck and Willers purported.

Hesebeck conceded that in his initial statements to law enforcement, he said Robert Crotteau had called Vang a 'Hmong a--hole.'

He also said that the victim had stated he would "kick his ass" if he found Vang trespassing again.

After reading the statement on the stand, Hesebeck also admitted that he told law enforcement that Robert Crotteau had problems with trespassers in the past, specifically citing Hmong hunters, who apparently are known to travel to Wisconsin from Minnesota to hunt.

The trial has become a flashpoint for racial tensions between the Hmong community in St. Paul, the largest in the country, and whites in the Twin Cities and neighboring Wisconsin.

Volunteers from a Hmong advocacy group formed in the wake of the shootings have been in the courtroom every day to serve as "trial monitors" to ensure that Vang receives a fair trial.

The defense has also focused on the meaning of the phrase "mud-duck," a term that Willers allegedly used to describe Vang when he radioed back to the cabin, suggesting it has a derogatory meaning toward Hmongs.

The state's witnesses, including Hesebeck, have consistently testified that the only meaning they identify "mud-ducks" with is "a person from Minnesota," even though initial statements to police seem to suggest otherwise.

"There's nothing in here about Minnesotans, just mud-ducks," defense attorney Steve Kohn said.

Hesebeck's stoic composure began to crumble as he identified crime scene photos of the victims, triggering tears from the equally stoic audience of more than 50 family members.

Mark Roidt, 28, died from a gunshot to the head. Jessica Willers, Terry Willers' daughter, and Allan Laski were shot in the backs as they drove to the scene on an ATV to offer assistance.

Dennis Drew was hit in the abdomen and succumbed to his wound the next day.

The teenage sons of two of the victims described how they waited in vain for their fathers to return to the campsite so they could embark on a deer-hunting expedition as they did every year.

Laski's 16-year-old son, Adam, testified he was waiting for the group to return from talking to the trespasser when he was startled by a series of gunshots.

He recalled his last words to his father and Jessica Willers, after a frantic Robert Crotteau radioed to the cabin for them to "bring the f---ing guns down here."

"The last thing I could think to say was, 'Don't do anything stupid,'" he said, testifying that he sought refuge in an outhouse with a cousin as the gunfire from below continued.

Once the shooting ceased, Robert Crotteau's youngest son, Carter, went to survey the scene and made the grizzly discoveries.

Showing no emotion, the 19-year-old college student testified that he discovered the bodies of his brother and father, yelling to revive them until he realized the futility of his efforts.

Robert Crotteau's brother, Steve Crotteau, recalled the moment Carter Crotteau returned to the cabin and reported back.

"I asked him where everybody was and he said, 'They're all dead,'" he told jurors, pausing to dab tears. "I just gave him a hug and told him I loved him."

Testimony resumes Wednesday. The trial is being streamed on Court TV Extra.