Nguyen Tu Duy, 23, was charged and found guilty of murder, though his victim escaped death.
The indictment filed at the HCMC People's Court said Duy had borrowed VND15 million ($645) from a man named Cuong, but did not pay it back.
On June 21 last year, both of them were at a birthday party at a restaurant in Go Vap District. When Cuong came by and offered a beer, Duy remembered that the former had advised people not to lend money to him. In a fit of anger, he went home, grabbed a gun, returned to the restaurant, shot Cuong in the stomach and fled the scene.
Cuong did not die, but suffered 85 percent injuries to his body, doctors determined.
On July 17 last year, Duy turned himself in along with the gun he used to shoot Cuong. Duy said he had bought the gun and ten bullets for over VND1 million from an unidentified man in the Central Highlands' Dak Lak Province, his hometown.
Despite his victim not dying, Duy's action was deemed to be especially dangerous, especially since he had no intention that his victim survives, the court said. Accordingly, he was charged and found guilty of murder.