Dad hollered for him to stop, he didn't, so dad hauled out his 1911A1 and shot at the guy's feet. He didn't allow for recoil, so he hit the guy in the back of the head.
It knocked him sprawling, and dad was sure he'd killed him stone dead. But the bullet didn't penetrate his skull, it simply travelled around his head under the skin and lodged between his eyes. Knocked him out but otherwise didn't do him any lasting harm.
Never shoot a Neanderthal in the head, etc. etc.
(The AG showed up a couple of weeks later to investigate whether dad violated the GI's civil rights by plugging him in the head. Nope.)
I just talked to a fire arms expert (cop) friend of mine. He said that’s not uncommon at all with ball ammunition. He said, if you want to shoot someone, use hollow point and you will have to pick up the pieces to find the hole you made.