There have been various stories about where she hit him, so I don’t know what the truth is. You’re quite right that placement is everything. But for home defense, I have a 12-gauge Mossberg. If an intruder comes into my house, I do not need to shoot five times to stop him.
You are right. Shotguns trump handguns big time for home defense. I should have mentioned my personal favorite, although I rarely keep it loaded, is a 44 Magnum lever action rifle. Very maneuverable, 10 shots, firing a 240 grain bullet at well over 1800 fps. Light recoil...
But still, a shotgun trumps my carbine.
On the local radio, the Loganville police spokesman was reporting (with ill-concealed glee) that Mr. Perp left a number of his teeth scattered on the floor.
I agree with you re the shotgun. When the panic was on here (two armed robbers escaped into the woods behind our house, and the police deployed on the opposite side of the woods . . . ) I put my kids into their beds and told them to stay there, and took up a position between our woodpile and the house wall with my grandfather's Light 12 Browning stuffed full of No. 2 buck. That shotgun is a punisher, but judging from my experience deer hunting, if I'd had to shoot I would never have felt the recoil. But since that time we sold the Browning and got a nice Rem 870 pump and an 1148 auto.
(Cobb's finest brought out the K-9s and nobbled the guys within ten minutes. Good on 'em.)