Guy I worked with in the early 70s had a creeper come into his house twice. Once in he would open windows and doors for his escape. He seemed to like his girls' room. When someone would wake up and yell, the creeper would run out. The guy took to waiting for him in the family room with his 12 gauge loaded with "bird shot". I asked him later why he used that and he said he didn't want to kill anybody.
One night the guy came back and the homeowner hit him in the side of the face at 3 or 4 feet. The creeper had the effrontery to run out the front door leaving a lot of one side of his face on the family room wall. He died later in the neighbors front yard. The DA made the guy sit on his thumb for months before he officially called it justified. The homeowner was still a mess when I talked to him a couple of months after the shooting. (This happened in Pennsylvania)
Yep. Birdshot up close pretty much makes a 2 inch hole all the way through. If you “don’t want to kill anybody,” use a squirt gun. That said, I hope the guy got over it. Sounds like the creeper was a kidnapping, or worse, waiting to happen, and the world is a better place for him not being in it.