A forest ranger chief shot two top officials of the northern Vietnamese province of Yen Bai to death before killing himself, as they all gathered for the opening of a provincial People’s Council meeting on Thursday morning.

The gunman, Do Cuong Minh, and the victims, provincial Party chief Pham Duy Cuong and chairman of the People's Council Ngo Ngoc Tuan, were rushed to the hospital in a critical condition following the shooting that happened at around 7:00 am.

Cuong was 58 years old, Minh 53, and Tuan 52.

The People’s Council is the local-level equivalent to the lawmaking National Assembly.

All three were confirmed dead as of 1:30 pm the same day, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

The People's Council meeting was canceled immediately after the shooting.

Pham Duy Cuong

Ngo Ngoc Tuan

At 7:00 am, Cuong and Tuan arrived at the headquarters of the Yen Bai Party Committee early to prepare for the meeting.

A few minutes later, Minh walked directly into the office of Cuong and shot him multiple times in his head, chest, and abdomen.

The gunman then came to Tuan’s office and continued gunning down the council’s chairman in the same fashion.

Minh then shot himself in the head in the second office.

The three were taken to the hospital, with doctors from the Bach Mai infirmary in Hanoi dashing to Yen Bai to save them. The doctors failed to revive them in the end.

The motive of the shooting is not immediately clear. Minh was appointed the province’s top forest ranger in March 2014.

Yen Bai authorities are slated to hold a press meeting about the deadly incident at 2:30 pm.

The suspect Do Cuong Minh

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