Two top officials of the northern Vietnamese province of Yen Bai were shot dead this morning at their offices.
The incident occured at 7am when the victims, provincial Party chief Pham Duy Cuong, 58, and chairman of the People's Council Ngo Ngoc Tuan, 52, were in their offices preparing for a provincial People’s Council meeting.
Yen Bai Provincial Party chief Pham Duy Cuong (left) and chairman of the People's Council Ngo Ngoc Tuan were shot dead at their offices on August 18 morning
The gunman was later identified as Do Cuong Minh, 53, chief of the province's Department of Forest Protection. Minh came to the offices of two officials and shot them multiple times in their heads, chests, and abdomen and then shot himself in the head.
The three victims were rushed to the hospital but then all died from serious injuries.
Do Cuong Minh
PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc has arrived in Yen Bai to visit the victims and direct the investigation with local authorities who have just held a press meeting about the deadly incident.
Chairing the press meeting, chairman of the provincial People's Committee, Pham Thi Thanh Tra, said that this is the first such incident to ever happen in Vietnam.
"We're trying to investigate possible reasons leading to Minh's action," Tra said. "But I'm sure that there's no link to the arrangement of the province's personnel at the meeting this morning and the forestry sector will not be discussed in the meeting."
Answering questions about Minh's character, Tra said that he was a calm person and a responsible employee.
"I'm shocking surprised when hearing that Minh did it," Tra said. "He showed no strange signs recently."
PM Dung told the press meeting that it is a great loss and an especially serious incident for the country and the locality.
He asked the Ministry of Public Security to urgently work with local police to investigate the incident.
