Years ago a young acquaintance, small guy, was being terrorized by a group of thugs here. Everytime they would see him they would beat his ass. He started carrying a pistol. Got jumped by thugs at a party. He shot one 3 times. Twice “would have been fine” according to the prosecutor. 3rd shot was to the head. While he was on the ground.
That was 20 years ago and the poor guy is still in prison. So I’ll have to disagree that you should “keep on shooting..”
Unless you want to spend a long stretch in the pen.
I expect the third shot being to the head while on the ground made all the difference. If it was at close quarters the head shot could be seen as the coup de grace meant to kill instead of a shot in defense.
If the small fella had been set on so much, who’s to say what was going through his mind. I wonder if his lawyer brought up the history of assaults at the trial?