Victoria E. Freile

@vfreile

A 71-year-old man was killed Tuesday night by a friend's son while squirrel hunting in Rush died doing what he loved.

Vienchaleun Kettavong of Rush was hunting in a heavily wooded area in Rush about 5:30 p.m., when a friend's son shot his rifle at what he believed to be a squirrel and instead struck Kettavong, said Cpl. John Helfer of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

The location of the incident was roughly 1,000 yards east of West Henrietta Road and a half-mile north of Honeoye Falls 6 Road, and was difficult for emergency responders to access, Helfer said. Kettavong was hunting in the woods between Honeoye Falls 5 Points Road and the Brooks gun club with his friend KT Kounnavong, 58, and son P. Kounnavong, 32, both Henrietta residents, according to sheriff's deputies.

"It's tragic from every angle," said Pepsy Kettavong of Rochester, who said it appeared that his father on Tuesday went into the woods alone and at some point was involved in the fatal encounter. "Hunting was not about shooting for him, it was about solitude. He liked to walk in the woods and contemplate."

The Kounnavongs are family friends, he said, and the men often hunted together.

Vienchaleun Kettavong was pronounced dead at the scene, Helfer said.

Described as a good but quiet man, Vienchaleun Kettavong was survived by his wife of nearly 50 years and six grown children. The family, all born in Laos, all fled the country in 1980 and spent two years in a Thai refugee camp before moving to upstate New York.

Vienchaleun Kettavong was a soldier and later a commander and a chief in the Lao Republic Army in the 1960s and '70s and received numerous honors. But he was vocal about his anti-Communist views and spent six years in a concentration camp there, according to his family. He was sentenced to death in 1980 but was allowed to return to his family to say goodbye. The family together fled to Thailand, then in 1982 moved to the Rochester area.

"Everything he did, he did for others," Pepsy Kettavong said. "He put his family first and sacrificed himself for a better life for his children."

In the U.S., Vienchaleun Kettavong worked 28 years at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Henrietta, where he started as a custodian and retired as a shipping and receiving clerk.

Though unexpected, Pepsy Kettavong said his father died in a place that brought him peace.

Deputies continue to investigate the incident. No charges have been filed.

VFREILE@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/vfreile