Saigon woman dares gun-toting fake cop to kill her

By Quoc Thang December 7, 2016 | 07:32 pm PT

When she asked the owner of a local security guard firm to give her son his pay back, he pulled a gun.

Police in Ho Chi Minh City detained a man on Wednesday for discharging a firearm in a street argument with a middle-aged woman.

Bui Duc Phuong was depicted drawing, cocking and firing a semi-automatic handgun in a video that went up onto Facebook on Monday.

Police say the bullets were likely rubber, though their investigation remains in progress.

In the video, Phuong draws the weapon from his pants pocket and menaces a woman with it. When she dares him to open fire directly into her head, he fires into the air.

Police say the argument took place on the street in front of his company's headquarters over payment owed to the woman’s son.

The woman, Nguyen Thi Thuy, said her son quit in October after working as a guard for two and a half months, but the company only paid him a month's salary. Thuy says Phuong promised to pay her son the remaining wages, several times, but failed to do so.

Thuy said she sought police assistance, several times, but local officers advised her to take her case to a local government office.

Instead, Thuy decided to handle the situation herself.

“I did panic when he took out his gun, but my son is just one of many people who have worked hard for him without payment,” news website VietNamNet quoted her as saying. "I'm willing to die for justice."

Police said Phuong’s company is licensed to use guns that disperse tear gas and rubber-bullets, but said it was wrong of Phuong to use one during a civil argument.

Investigators have confiscated a fake police identification card from Phuong’s house; Phuong claimed he made the card to "look like a big shot."