Dead perps do not come into court in a wheel chair with mama pushing them and tell how they tried to surrender to you. In fact, they don’t contradict your story at all.
And, a wrongful death claim is worth about 10% of the value of a permanently disabled perp.
Accordingly, empty your clip into the criminal bastard especially toward the area above and slightly behind the ear.
The local Sheriff's Deputy asked why I didn't shoot. Well, I had full control over the situation and it was enough that the red dot from my .45cal sitting right in the middle of the perp's chest was enough to send him to the ground, arms spread out screaming "don't shoot! don't shoot! oh my God don't shoot!"
It was almost 1:30 in the morning, my oldest son was not even a month old yet. He and his mother (my soon to be EX wife, thank God!) were sleeping soundly upstairs. This stupid DRUNK idiot tried getting in my front door, side door and my patio door as I sit in my family room watching TV.
I heard the front door rattle, grabbed my .45 and went to the front door. No one was there. I heard the side door rattle and went there, no one there. Then the patio door rattled. That's when I grabbed my cordless phone and went outside, phone dialing 911 in one hand, .45 laser sighted in the other.
Found the idiot on my driveway and lit him up. 911 was already on the phone. I told dispatch to send a car to my home, I stopped a burglary in progress. Their response: We're busy right now sir, we'll be there in 30 minutes.
I yelled at the dumbass dispatcher and said "30 minutes? Send the fucking morgue, I'm shooting the asshole and going back inside."
That's when he started screaming "don't shoot! don't shoot! Oh my God don't shoot!" and pissed himself.
Literally two minutes later, two Will County (IL) Sheriff's Deputies came at high speed to my house from different ends of the road.
They took the idiot off in handcuffs.
If that drunk asshole made any move towards me or in any way tried getting his dumb, drunk ass up off my driveway I'd have shot him no questions asked. Period. I suspect he knew that which is why he pissed himself.
On a side note, one of the Sheriff's Deputies (now a good friend and has been for years) heard what the dispatcher said to me on the phone over the radio. That dispatcher didn't last but another six months on the job and she was gone.
Now THERE's someone I would've liked to shoot that night!
BTW, this was about 21 years in the middle of January here in the Chicagoland area. It was ten degrees outside and I had on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. No shoes, socks or coat. The area I live in had about two sheriff's deputies covering 36 square miles at any point during the day/evening. It wouldn't have been questioned had I shot the dumbass drunk perp that I did it in self defense. I saw shooting him as unnecessary as long as he obeyed my commands, which he did. We have to use our best judgement at the end of the day. That's what I did and I stand by my actions that evening.
Bottom line as always is: don't draw your weapon unless you're prepared to shoot. I was prepared to do so if it was necessary.