Four shot dead at cockfighting betting ring

Gun violence is extremely uncommon in Vietnam, where it is illegal for citizens to even own firearms

HANOI: Four people were shot dead at an illegal cockfighting betting ring in southern Vietnam, state media reported on Wednesday, a rare gun homicide in the communist country.

Local residents heard gunshots and screams from a garden where the cockfight took place, according to Cong An Nhan dan website, the Ministry of Public Security's official mouthpiece.

"There was a quarrel over cockfight betting which led to the shooting," the website reported.

Fascinating Vietnam

State-run VN Express news site said the suspected shooter fled the scene on a motorbike and was arrested later Wednesday.
Police refused to comment when contacted by AFP.

Gun violence is extremely uncommon in Vietnam, where it is illegal for citizens to own firearms and the black market for weapons is limited.

Betting on cock fights is also illegal, although the pastime is ubiquitous underground in the gambling-mad country.

In a rare shooting in 2016, two senior officials in northern Yen Bai province were killed by a colleague at their office, before the gunmen shot himself.