Joey Crotteau was 20 and from Meteor, Wisconsin when he was killed on November 21, 2004, during the shooting later called the Deer Woods Massacre. He was among a group of hunters in the Blue Hills region of northern Wisconsin who encountered 36-year-old Chai Soua Vang trespassing in a tree stand. After a confrontation, Vang left and then returned, firing a semiautomatic rifle and shooting eight people. Joey was shot multiple times in the back as he tried to flee. His father, Bob Crotteau, was also among those killed.

Vang was arrested shortly after the incident and was tried in September 2005. He claimed self-defense, alleging provocation, but the prosecution presented evidence leading to convictions for six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and three counts of attempted homicide; Vang received six consecutive life terms without parole plus 70 years. The incident intensified local debates over hunting access, land use, and tensions between cultural groups.