My thoughts exactly.
Shooting them in the hip as they are coming down the stairs gives him plausible deniability about whether they were armed or not or whether he should have been afraid or not: "I didn't wait to see if they had anything in their hands".
More info on those darling chillins....
“She said that Kifer had been in treatment more than once for abuse of controlled substances, and speculated that her cousin might have been after pills. Kifer had recently returned to school and had been trying to straighten out her life, Shaeffel said, adding that Kifer had stolen Adderall pills from Shaeffel’s home.
“Yes, she had an addiction problem and stuff, but that doesn’t mean she deserves to get murdered at 18 years old,” Shaeffel said. “I understand they came there to rob them, or whatever, but shoot them in the shoulder and call the cops.”
Whatever, Sweet-Cheeks. Ask your local Keystones when they are at the range how often they are taught “shoot to wound”, then get back to me.