Dragging the body inside after you shoot someone is one of the most ill-advised pieces of advice you can follow. With today's forensics, they will catch you and your guilt will be confirmed. Lying to the police or resorting to dishonesty will only work against you. The tactic to follow is to NEVER shoot anyone in the dark. If you hear someone, close the door, turn the light on, get behind the bed or dresser with your gun and point it at the door. Do NOT cock it and keep your finger off the trigger. Remember, if you shoot an innocent person or a family member, it will stay with you the rest of your life. In a lit room and hidden as you are, you have plenty of time to shoot if the bad guy is armed with a gun.
Two, if the person has a gun, SHOOT. You have no obligation to issue a command as a police officer might. If the person has only a knife, you have to issue a command in most states. If the bad guy advances, and he has a knife, take him out immediately. If you've ever seen the damage a knife will do, trust me, you don't want the guy carving you up before he dies! In a celebrated case years ago in New York, two cops, a sergeant and a rookie, shot a deranged homeless man who advanced on them with a knife. Despite being hit repeatedly with round nose bullets, the guy was able to get to the sergeant and kill him before being dropped by a head shot. Lesson: Always use hollowpoint ammo. It avoids excess penetration and ricochets.
The Mosaic Law allows a home owner to kill an intruder in the middle of the night; however, during the day, if he's unarmed, you have to cut him some slack. If he's armed with sword or knife, and he advances on you, you can take his life. If he decides to leave, you have to let him. In today's society, you always want to give the intruder the chance to retreat. If you catch him raping your wife or daughter, I don't know of too many juries that would convict you if you took his life. And if he's murdered someone and flees, you're justified in shooting in most states, especially if he's armed. By not shooting in this situation, you risk letting him escape and continue killing. In many cases, once someone has taken a human life, they find it easier (and in many instances more exciting) to do it again.
As a journalist, I interviewed a guy who was a former burgler. He said he was in a home collecting goodies one night and stuffing them into a black, plastic bag. "Suddenly, I heard the most frightening sound a burgler can hear," he said. "And that was the sound of someone upstairs releasing the slide on an automatic pistol!" Normally, he went through great lengths to ensure the premises was not occupied before he would enter it. "If I wanted to meet people, I would have been a mugger," he laughed. At any rate, that was the last time he broke into a house. Now he's a security consultant!