VietNamNet Bridge – On the afternoon of August 12, after leaving a coffee shop in Phan Ri Cua town in the central province of Binh Thuan, a drug addict suddenly drew his knife from his pocket to stab people around him.

The mad man stabbed many women, old people and children, killing one and injuring 19 others.

The incident made the entire residents of Hai Tan Street in Phan Ri Cua town to get panicky. After running and stabbing locals, the mass murderer attacked three police officers before being controlled.

The killer is determined as Nguyen Van Tien, 32, a local man who is a senior drug addict. Tien is also illiterate.

Witnesses said that at around 2pm of August 12, after leaving a wedding party, Tien entered a coffee shop on Nguyen Truong To road to drink a cup of coffee. Suddenly, this man drew a knife from his pocket, rushed into a house near the coffee shop and stabbed four sleeping people.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien, 48, the first victim, was dead immediately from loss of blood from her lung wound.

Tien kept chasing other people on the street and got into nearby houses to stab people. Up to 19 people were stabbed. Three of them were treated at a local hospital while 16 others were carried to a big hospital to treat their serious wounds.

Among the injured people, there are three policemen, one local official, a 7-year-old boy and an 80-year-old woman.

Around ten days before, Tien stabbed a barber after taking drugs.

Local officials said Tien was sent to rehabilitation centers for several times but he could not give up drugs.

Tien’s family used to chain him to prevent the man from getting mad and attacking others whenever he had a fit. Recently the family released him and planed to take him to a rehabilitation center in Da Lat. However, the drug addict caused the incident before he was taken to Da Lat.

Police arrested Tien and seized two big knives from him.

D. Tam