A St. Paul man with a decade-long history of domestic violence-related convictions was sentenced to five years in prison Monday after charges say he ordered his son to get an AR-15 rifle, threatened to shoot a woman and himself in front of six kids and then fired a round into a living room wall.

Greg Vang, 37, was on probation for a prior domestic assault conviction at the time of the June incident, which began shortly after he arrived at the family’s East Side home following a domestic abuse class, the charges say. He surrendered after a standoff with SWAT officers.

Greg Vang (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Vang reached a plea agreement with the Ramsey County attorney’s office in December, admitting to being in possession of a firearm after conviction of a crime of violence. Two other charges filed in connection with the case were dismissed at sentencing: second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, and possessing a firearm with an altered serial number.

Judge DeAnne Hilgers denied Vang’s request for a downward departure to probation and sentenced him to the five-year prison term, which was the mandatory minimum on the charge.

Hour-long standoff

Officers responded to a shots-fired call at the home in the 900 block of Sims Avenue about 5:15 p.m. June 19, 2023.

A woman was reluctant to speak to officers, who learned later that the suspect, identified as Vang, threatened to harm her if she talked to police, according to the criminal complaint. She said he got home angry after attending a domestic abuse class for a prior incident between the two of them. He started breaking things in the living room, then told his 10-year-old son to get his AR-15 rifle from upstairs.

Once Vang had the rifle, he pointed it at the woman and said, “I’m going to kill us in front of the kids” and “I’m going to kill you if you call the police,” the complaint says. Vang broke her phone so she couldn’t call the police, and blamed her for him going to jail.

Vang then shot one round into the living room wall, while the children — between the ages of 13 years to one-month old — were in the room with him.

Officers spoke to Vang while he barricaded himself in the garage for more than an hour, during which time he said he would not come out and would rather die, the complaint says. He was eventually taken into custody by the SWAT team. An AR-15 rifle with no serial number was found hidden in the garage.

A search of the home turned up a handgun in a bedroom, a gun scope, gun magazines and a large amount of ammunition.

Officers found a spent casing in the living room and “fresh” bullet holes in the garage.

In an interview with police, Vang said he got upset when the woman looked through his phone. He admitted the guns in the home belonged to him, but denied handling one in the house, the complaint says. He claimed the loud sound came from him throwing an ammo case.

Court records show Vang was convicted of misdemeanor domestic assault in 2014, felony domestic assault, felony terroristic threats and felony drug possession in 2017, felony domestic assault in 2019, felony threats of violence in 2021 and gross misdemeanor domestic assault last year.

Vang was convicted of violating a domestic abuse no-contact order in 2014 and 2015 and a domestic abuse order for protection in 2016.

‘Risk to public safety’

Vang’s public defender, Tyler Dehaven, told Hilgers on Monday that the latest “series of events” has been “something of a wake-up call for Vang in terms of an opportunity for him to really turn things around.”

Vang has recently completed his GED and the initial phase of a drug treatment program through Minnesota Teen Challenge, which Dehaven said are steps that show he is amenable to probation.

Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Cory Tennison disagreed, noting how Vang violated probation in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2023. “Your honor has to weigh the last six weeks in treatment versus the last 10 years violating probation,” he said.

Tennison asked the judge to hand down the five-year prison term, saying: “The risk to public safety warrants prison here, and the punishment should fit the gravity of what he did.”

Hilgers mentioned the seriousness of Vang’s offense, including how it happened in front of children, as well as his prior criminal history.

“I do not have faith that you would complete (probation) successfully,” she said. “You haven’t demonstrated that in the past.”

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