Vietnam shocked by two high-ranking provincial leaders’ shot dead

In an unprecedented fatal shooting that has rocked Vietnam, a forest ranger shot two high-ranking provincial leaders to death before killing himself on August 18th 2016.

The suspect Do Cuong Minh

According to investigators, at around 7 a.m, before a regular meeting of the People’s Council in Yen Bai Province, Do Cuong Minh, director of the local Forest Protection Agency, arrived at the office of Pham Duy Cuong, the chief of the provincial Communist Party Unit, and shot him with a K59 pistol Minh was deputized to possess. (Vietnam outlaws civilian gun ownership.)

Minh then moved on to the office of Ngo Ngoc Tuan, chairman of the provincial People's Council and head of the committee tasked with personnel matters, and repeated the act. Minh also shot himself there.

Pham Duy Cuong (right) and Ngo Ngoc Tuan

The three were taken to the hospital, with doctors from the Bach Mai infirmary in Hanoi dashing to Yen Bai to save them. The doctors failed to revive them in the end.

All three were confirmed dead as of 1:30 pm the same day

Cuong, 58, was reelected as Yen Bai’s Party chief last October. Tuan, 52, was installed as chairman of the provincial legislature in June.

Minh, 53, has been director of the Forest Protection Agency since March 2014. He is the son-in-law of a former Party chief of Yen Bai.

The motive of the shooting is not immediately clear./.

tuoitre ( Ha Thuong )