Several recent murder cases share a disturbing feature: the alleged perpetrators and their direct victims did not know each other and had no prior conflicts. In one case, the victims apparently became targets simply because the suspect could not reach the person he originally intended to attack.

Neighbors caught in deadly violence

In the early hours of Sept. 3, a violent attack in Bui Chu Hamlet, Binh Minh Commune, Dong Nai City left a mother and her two children dead and her husband seriously injured.

According to police, Nguyen Duc Anh, 21, had been in a relationship with D.T.P.A., 17. After the girl ended their relationship, Duc Anh allegedly developed the intention of killing her.

At around 1:45 a.m., after drinking alcohol, Duc Anh took a knife to P.A.’s home. Finding the door locked, the suspect climbed onto the roof and attempted to pry open a skylight. P.A.’s father discovered him and tried to stop him, but Duc Anh allegedly threatened to kill the entire family.

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Le Sy Tung (left) and Nguyen Duc Anh. Photo: VietNamNet/Police

Unable to enter his former girlfriend’s home, Duc Anh climbed over to the neighboring house of N.V.Q., 40. When discovered, the suspect allegedly attacked Q., his wife and their two children, aged 11 and one, with a knife. The mother and two children died, while Q. was seriously injured.

A particularly striking aspect of the case is the relationship - or lack of one - between the suspect and the victims. During questioning, Duc Anh said he did not know Q.’s family and had no previous conflict with them.

Q.’s family had nothing to do with the dispute between Duc Anh and P.A., yet they became victims after the suspect was unable to break into his former girlfriend’s home.

While the violence in Binh Minh allegedly began with one dispute before spilling over to uninvolved neighbors, another family in Dong Nai had been deliberately selected as a target nearly a year earlier despite having no connection to the perpetrator.

A family of strangers targeted for robbery

On Oct. 2, 2025, three members of D.D.T.’s family in Dak Nhau Commune were shot dead at their agricultural produce purchasing facility. The victims were T., his wife C.H.H. and their grandchild D.T.T., born in 2014.

After a 56-hour manhunt, Dong Nai Provincial Police arrested Le Sy Tung, born in 1992.

According to investigators, Tung wanted money for personal spending and developed a plan to kill and rob someone. He sought out a financially well-off family living in an isolated location.

T.’s agricultural produce purchasing facility was selected because the family had a spacious home, appeared to possess significant assets and lived in a sparsely populated area. Tung prepared a military-grade firearm and other equipment for the planned crime.

On the evening of Oct. 2, while the family was having dinner, Tung allegedly opened fire from the edge of a rubber plantation across the road, about 35 meters away, killing all three. He then disabled security cameras, entered the house, cut open a safe, stole property and fled.

Investigators determined that Tung acted alone. The Dong Nai Provincial People’s Court later sentenced him to death for murder, while also imposing sentences for robbery, destruction of property and an offense involving military weapons.

According to the investigation findings, the family was targeted because of its perceived financial circumstances and the isolated location of its home.

Both cases occurred in Dong Nai and both left three members of a family dead, but the paths leading to the killings were markedly different. In one, violence was allegedly redirected toward people with no involvement in the original dispute. In the other, a stranger’s family was deliberately selected in a premeditated plan to kill and steal.

Women attacked by a stranger on the street

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Le Sy Tung and evidence seized in the case. Photo: Police

In May 2024, Lau Vu Nhat Dang, born in 1996, came under investigation following a series of attacks in which older women were suddenly struck in the head with a metal pipe in the former Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province.

On the afternoon of May 6, a 56-year-old woman was cycling to the beach. While she was stopped at a traffic light on Dien Bien Phu Street, a motorcyclist suddenly struck her in the head with a metal pipe before fleeing.

The following morning, N.T.M.L., 63, was cycling along 2 Thang 4 Street when she was attacked from behind. She suffered a traumatic brain injury and died two days later.

Also on May 7, a 73-year-old woman walking along Pham Van Dong Street was attacked from behind and suffered serious head injuries.

After receiving reports of successive attacks, police launched an investigation and identified Dang as a suspect. During questioning, Dang said he had attacked five people on the street with a metal pipe.

Notably, police determined that none of the victims knew Dang or had any prior conflict with him. The case file was later transferred to Khanh Hoa Provincial Police for further investigation into alleged murder.

Being strangers does not necessarily mean there was ‘no motive’

According to lawyer Nguyen Thanh Hai, director of An Hoang Gia Law Co., Ltd. under the Hanoi Bar Association, the fact that an alleged perpetrator and victim were complete strangers with no previous dispute is important when authorities assess the cause, motive and nature of an offense. However, the absence of a prior relationship is not, by itself, an independent element establishing an offense or an aggravating circumstance.

A person who intentionally takes another person’s life may be prosecuted for murder under Article 123 of Vietnam’s Penal Code. If an attack is committed without apparent cause, arises spontaneously or stems from a trivial reason while demonstrating aggression and disregard for the law and for the life and health of others, authorities may consider whether it constitutes conduct of a “hooligan nature.”

Clause 4, Article 4 of Resolution 04/2025/NQ-HDTP issued by the Council of Judges of the Supreme People’s Court provides specific guidance on determining this circumstance. Therefore, deliberately attacking a complete stranger is significant evidence, but it is not sufficient on its own to automatically characterize an offense as being of a hooligan nature. Authorities must still establish the cause, motive, manner in which the act was committed and the specific circumstances of each case.

Hai particularly emphasized that “not knowing the victim” does not necessarily mean acting “without a motive.” For example, someone may choose to kill members of an unfamiliar family in order to steal their property. Although the perpetrator and victims have no prior relationship, there is still a clear criminal motive and purpose. In such a case, authorities may consider the circumstance of “murder to commit or conceal another crime,” while the offender may also face prosecution for robbery where sufficient grounds exist.

Depending on the circumstances, an offender may also face the more severe sentencing provisions under Clause 1, Article 123, including for killing two or more people, killing a person under 16, committing murder in a barbaric manner, using a method capable of killing multiple people, or acting for a despicable motive.

In determining a sentence, courts also consider the number and characteristics of the victims, the weapon used, the level of preparation, the intensity of the attack, the consequences, the offender’s attitude, personal background, and applicable aggravating and mitigating circumstances.

A circumstance already used to establish an offense or determine the applicable sentencing bracket cannot be counted again as an aggravating circumstance when the court decides the sentence.

Duc Phong