Chances are overwhelming that you WILL have to talk to the police eventually. I respect the fact that you’d want to talk to and have your lawyer present before answering any questions. But from a legal standpoint, you’ve committed an aggravated assault or homicide. You DID intentionally or knowingly cause grievous bodily injury or death to another human being.
That said assault or homicide was justifiable in terms of defense of self or someone else is an affirmative defense that has to be asserted. If the cops/prosecutor/coroner have any respect for decency, the self-defense laws and Constitution (and many do), they’ll conduct a thorough investigation, perhaps an inquest, listen to your story and let it go. That is how most legit self-defense cases go. If you are in People’s Republic of (name the state), then you’ll go to trial and have to assert your defense there.
If you choose not to say anything to the police, and hang onto your Fifth Amendment all the way, you very well may end up going to prison. I can easily establish that you shot someone. That is all I need to secure some degree of criminal conviction. You need to convince the trier of fact that you had good and legal reason to shoot that someone. Note the term ‘trier of fact’. That would be a jury. Why go all the way to trial if you can deflect it?
I agree that you should be careful in what you say, and that you need a lawyer before you say anything other than what is necessary to summon the authorities and obtain medical aid for those who are injured (including the perp). But you can’t stay mum forever or you are likely going to do time.
Even if you do ‘cooperate’ theres no guarantee you wont be arrested and charged. Apart from identifying yourself as the victim and a very brief stmt about why you shot you should say nothing more. Let the police know there will be no more input until your lawyer is present. Most police, tho not too bright, can figure out roughly what occurred if its your home, its been broken in to and theres a dead or wounded guy inside. The main theme is not to give evidence w/o your attorney present and certainly not immediately following the event. I think its safe to say universally police aren’t required to give any stmts immediately following a shooting in which theyre involved. To my knowledge theyre given some long time to make stmts.
To reiterate the police are never your friend or ally. They’re there at (presumably) your request to make an arrest. They aren’t your friend nor are they there to protect you. They’re a govt employee tasked to follow the orders of the politicians who pay their salaries.
“I can easily establish that you shot someone. That is all I need to secure some degree of criminal conviction. You need to convince the trier of fact that you had good and legal reason to shoot that someone.”
If I’m on a dark street in the city, that is correct. If I’m in my home in Arizona, and the shooting is of a stranger at 1:30 AM, and the door has been forced open, and the bullets hit him in the front or side...you’ll need a lot more than a corpse to get a conviction.
Pointing out a few facts - “I heard the door give way”, or, “When he started down the hall, I was between him and my kids” - that is probably OK. After that, “I’ve been scared, and now I want to talk to an attorney before saying anything else” - and then SHUTTING UP COMPLETELY - makes sense to me.
Better to spend the rest of the night in jail than to say something that can be misconstrued by a liberal DA in Pima County AZ...they cannot use, “He didn’t talk a lot of the cops” as evidence against me. But if in my emotional state I make a comment that doesn’t square with the physical evidence, they CAN argue I lied to cover up guilt!