Likely a double action revolver. Pulling the trigger pulls the hammer back to a ready position and drops it on the firing pin. It also indexes the cylinder.
Most likely double action although with a little practice you can cock a revolver by rubbing the hammer on whatever is in reach.
However one should not miss the point that you can not bring a weapon up to eye level if a chair is attached, I suspect that he would have been dead on the first shot if she could have.
For various reasons, even though it is only good for very close contact events, I suggest that everyone who practices self defense shooting should learn to hit center mass with the weapon at various unusual positions..waist high, chest high lying down, etc......up to maybe 5 yards.
With a little practice you can become very good at hitting the critical zone.