Scenario: You are standing inside, and someone is standing outside on the porch facing you. You fire and the person collapses. You drag him inside and tell the cops he came in and you shot him. You - are going to jail.
What forensics will tell the cops is this: Little droplets of blood will blow outward from the guy, landing on the doorway in front of him, upwards to the ceiling, to either side of him, and downwards. The cops will know he was on the porch.
Then the cops will examine the area you said you were standing. They will note the lack of blood spatter upwards, sideways, downward, and backward from where you said he was standing.
Blood spatter tells a LOT.
Another myth is firing one into the suspect and then firing one in the ceiling and claiming that you fired a warning. The cops will know you were lying because if you fired a warning, then the gunpowder would land on the area around you and the suspect. A second shot would overlay the powder on you and the surrounding area with blood. It's extremely tough to beat forensics.
Times change... But is is a good tale. Most people would panic and not know what to do anyway.
The one thing you always say to the Police is: I WAS IN FEAR OF MY LIFE. And stick with it.
Interesting. So maybe shoot shovel and shut up, really is the best advice.
I hit one guy in the shoulder at about 15 feet with a 44 mag. Messy. The other one I did with a semi-wad cutter loaded backwards from a 357 and the bullet did not leave the body and did a great deal of damage.
It should also be noted that cops have little sense of humor about the last three bullets ending up in the floor under the body. You might get away with that in some places but not all.