Hanoi  - Police will bring attempted murder charges against a man who shot two Ho Chi Minh City jewelry shop employees and posed as a police officer while trying to steal 480 ounces of gold, a police official said Monday.

Mai Van Tan, director of Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Social Order Crime Investigations, said would-be thief Huynh Huu Nhan would also be prosecuted for robbery and for illegal possession and use of military weapons.

Nhan shot the two jewelry-shop employees Saturday, trying to pull off a heist that took months of preparation.

According to the newspaper Vietnam Police, Nhan began making small transactions at the Tan Kim Hieu jewelry shop in February in order to gain the owners' trust.

Nhan called the shop on Saturday and said he had just sold his house and wished to purchase 400 taels (480 Troy ounces or about 15 kilograms) of gold.

Nhan asked the shop to deliver the gold to him, claiming he was afraid of street robbery.

He arranged the meeting at a house he had rented using a false police identification card that listed him as Captain Le Thanh Ha.

When four jewelry shop staff entered the house to deliver the gold, Nhan, wearing a police uniform, attempted to shoot them with a K54 pistol.

After Nhan's first shot, that wounded one of the jewelry shop staff in the abdomen, his pistol jammed. He attempted to shoot the others with a submachine gun, but was overpowered after wounding one of the men in the hand.

The first victim was reportedly in critical condition at a local hospital.

Police said Nhan came from the Mekong Delta province of An Giang. He reportedly confessed to buying the guns, ammunition, and a hand grenade near the Vietnam-Cambodia border for 750 dollars. (dpa)