VietNamNet Bridge – Hearing a noise from a tree, the police chief of Chau Loc commune, Hau Loc district in the central province of Thanh Hoa thought that the noise was made by birds, so he shot into the tree. However, a young couple was injured by the salvos.

According to the police chief’s report – Mr. La Van Binh, on February 23, Binh and two police officers patrolled around the area. On the dike road in the village of Chau Tu, they heard birds singing on a tree. Binh pointed his homemade gun to the tree and pulled the trigger.

The gunshot did not hit any birds but injured a 24-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man.

The man had a gunshot on the nose and thigh while the woman had one bullet on her leg and on top of the head.

Hearing the two people cry out in pain, Binh shouted and joined others to take the couple to hospital.

The 10-year-old boy in Ca Mau who was wounded himself with a K54 gun.

Binh said he took the homemade gun from his friend in 2002. The gun is 1.1 m long and has the firing range of nearly 60m. Binh handed over the gun to the local military steering committee.

According to Vice Chair of Chau Loc commune – Mr. La Van Dung, Binh has not been punished ye because the victims' families voluntarily asked the authorities to not take criminal prosecution against Binh.

But Dung said Binh would surely be penalized.

In related news, a 10-year-old boy in the southern province of Ca Mau injured himself while playing with a K54 gun on February 22.

According to local police, when adults were absent from home, two boys found a K54 gun in a wardrobe. They thought it was a toy. A boy pointed the gun to his belly and pulled the trigger. The gunshot pierced the boy’s intestine.

The gun’s owner, a 56-year-old man in Ca Mau town named Kiet, said that he took the gun from his friend – a retired staff of a prison in Ca Mau ten years ago. He then gave the gun to a local police officer, who has just retired. Kiet took the gun back on February 20 and the incident occurred on February 22.

Le Ha