Brawlers pulled guns and knives in downtown Ho Chi Minh City Monday night after
a fight broke out over football betting pool.
The
sounds of gun fire started at around 8:30 p.m. at a corner of the East-West
Highway in District 1.
According to eyewitnesses, one group had six young men on three motorbikes while
the other had four on two motorbikes.
The
first group had said they were there to "take care" of the other group for
refusing to pay around VND100 million (US$5,350) after losing football bets, a
52-year-old local only identified as N.V.S. was quoted by local newswire
Vietnamnet as saying Tuesday.
Three men from the first group drew three swords to attack the others near the
highway. One member of the second group received cuts to his back and fell to
the ground. When he got up, he ran to the other side of the road, pulled a gun,
and fired shots, eyewitnesses said.
The
gun-armed gang then began chasing the sword-wielders.
A
second shot broke a window at a nearby restaurant.
"I've only seen things like this in gangster movies," S. told Vietnamnet.
Three shoots had been fired before the gun was thrown in the nearby Tau Hu
canal. Another man in the gun-armed gang jumped into the river near the highway
to swim to District 4, but the tide caught him and he couldn't make it. Local
residents managed to catch him and the police caught the gunman later. They also
found the gun early on Tuesday, with two bullets left inside.
Police have arrested five people for investigation. Two of them, Nguyen Van
Hoang, 31, from the northern province of Thanh Hoa, and Nguyen Viet Hoa, 23,
from Hai Phong, were from the gun-armed gang.
The
others, Le Thanh Hung, 39, a District 1 local, Nguyen Tin Trung, 23, and another
man only identified as Tien Trung, belonged to the sword-armed gang.
Tin
Trung said Duong Phu Son, 30, also a District 1 local, had been the one who had
started slashing people with his sword.
Police are looking for Son and the other men involved in the fight. The gunman's
name has not yet been released.