Vietnamese Refugee in Lubbock Threatened a Mass Shooting

A refugee living in Lubbock has accepted a plea deal in a federal case where he threatened to commit a mass shooting.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, they received a criminal complaint in July 2020 about a North Vietnamese refugee residing in Lubbock; 45-year-old Hieu Tran Trung.

The complaint was from a concerned friend of Trung, who told the FBI that on July 7^th, Trung had sent images of himself armed with multiple handguns, an AK-47 style rifle, and a large amount of ammunition.

The complaint also stated that Trung had threatened to shoot random people at a local church, using terms like “locked and leaded” to describe how ready he was. The friend also alleges that Trung said he was tired of people not taking him seriously.

After reviewing the criminal complaint, members of the FBI served a search warrant of Trung's residence in Lubbock and confiscated a loaded 9mm semiautomatic pistol and multiple rounds of ammunition.

According to FBI Dallas Special Agent Matthew DeSarno, it was illegal for Trung to buy and possess a firearm due to a 1998 conviction for assaulting a public servant. Of the case, DeSarno said, “The defendant knew he was prohibited from possessing firearms, but still went out of his way to illegally obtain them.”

Trung accepted a plea deal on Monday, Nov. 2, and pled guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He will be sentenced at a later date to no more than 10 years in federal prison.