Don’t know about going for a handgun when you could belt kitty with over 2 ounces of #6 shot.
Jinx.
I would love to talk to him.
I was thinking the same thing. I guess instincts take over and he was probably much more comfortable with the pistol. The 9 mm was obviously sufficient but at 10 feet, I'd rather have two shotgun blasts even if it is bird shot.
I shot a standing grouse once at about 10 feet with a 12 gauge with 7 1/2 shot. (I had no opportunity to get any further back.) Knowing that I was way too close I deliberately aimed low so as to not pulverize the breast. When I picked it up, only the head and breast remained and the rest of the grouse was literally gone. There might have been 1 or 2 BBs in the breast and I'm not doing justice to how thoroughly the shotgun removed everything south of the breast. It was as cleanly removed as if a surgeon had removed it with a scalpel. Had that been a cougar's head, there would have been a hole you could have put your fist in.
When you are in a fight-or-flight situation, you go with what you know. My guess is that the guy, having been a military cop, was trained to use his pistol in combat situations, and only used his shotgun for the nice, relaxing bird hunts. So, when a real threat came, he went for the thing he was used to using in combat situations, purely by instinct.
Because he knows that mild loads of #6 shot would not likely have stopped the cat?
Maybe blinded it, maybe mortally wounded it, but not likely stopped it. Penetration stops.