Wouldn’t have mattered what kind of vest it was. Go out to a shooting range that has steel targets and fire off a few dozen rounds from a .45 or even a .38 and see what happens. Even if the guy had had a full kevlar vest, a few rounds from a .45 would probably have knocked him on his ass — like being rammed with a steel pipe multiple times. The bullets wouldn’t have penetrated the vest, but they sure as heck would have battered him but good.
I agree he’d get staggered. I only pointed out that the press got it wrong about him wearing body armor. Cue in the journalist’s “assault weapon” “ AK-47 identification picture.