Ah, okers.
Others were being sincere about aiming for legs.
The kid probably leaned forward, the cop probably was aiming center of mass.
That’s what most likely happened.
The article said 2:30 in the afternoon, low light may not have been an issue.
Unless it was an extraordinarily dark room like in my mother in law’s place.
That’s why I’m thinking the kid leaned forward and took it to the head that way.
Forward dive? If I were in his shoes and preparing to throw a rock when confronted with someone aiming a gun at me, I'm upright winding up. If I were not intent on throwing the rock, I'd be dropping the rock, turning to evade the shot.
I think it most likely that the cop was looking at the target, unaware of the precise alignment of his weapon's sights and fired. "Instinctive shooting" is anything but, unless you've developed point shooting skills (using non-sighted aiming; actually one should always "sight" the weapon, but it may not use the weapons sights; it could be the rail as the weapon is brought up into the shooters view.). It can be off if the weapon is shot from a low/tactical ready (don't recall what we used to call it) with upward cant of the weapon. This can produce a high point of impact--it's easy to over estimate the need upward cant. He also may have rushed the shot when the perp appeared intent on throwing the rock.
I don't recall seeing the range of engagement mentioned.
Head shots are good, even if not intended. CNS shots stop the threat.