Guard stabbed to death trying to catch bank robbers in Da Nang

The armed robbers, wearing hoods and face maks, rode a motorbike to a BIDV branch on the busy Ngo Quyen Street in Da Nang's Ngu Hanh Son District at 1:47 p.m.

An eyewitness said one of them, Tran Van Tri, 22, fired warning shots as the other, Nguyen Manh Cuong, 25, ordered the bank's staff to put money in a bag.

People stand outside a barricaded BIDV branch in Da Nang after an attempted robbery on Nov. 22, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Truong

Failing to collect any money after a while, the robbers decided to leave, but Tran Minh Thanh, a 50-year-old guard, engaged in a fight with Tri and managed to take his gun.

As the robbers contined to flee on their motorbike, locals screamed "robbers" and a motorbike driver on the road deliberately hit them to cause them to fall. Tri was thus caught by locals and the bank's staff.

Thanh, the guard, continued to chase after Cuong and managed to catch his leg. "But the robber turned and stabbed him on the back and chest," an eyewitness said. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but quickly succumbed to the stabs.

His colleagues said Thanh started working for a security company in Da Nang three months ago after separating with his wife in Soc Trang Province in the Mekong Delta. He was then assigned as a guard at the bank.

Local police deployed forces on many streets and around the bank. They caught Cuong hiding in a different district at 2:30 p.m.

Bank robbers Nguyen Manh Cuong (R) and Tran Van Tri are at a police station in Da Nang, in a photo provided by police.

Cuong and Tri told the police that they were unemployed and indebted due to gambling and football betting. They knew each other through an online group and started renting a room together early this month.

They had planned to commit burglaries to have some money, but then changed plans to bank robbery.

They said they chose the BIDV branch, despite its locating near a police station, because it only has "one old guard."

Cuong bought the gun and six bullets online for VND4 million, and the knife at a supermarket. They rented the motorbike to commit the robbery.

Police said they are investiating the duo for the charges of murder and robbery.

 

 

Guard stabbed to death trying to catch bank robbers in Da Nang

Hiện trường cướp ngân hàng BIDV Đà Nẵng