Despite all the myth, the same thing could happen if he'd pulled a 1911 and hit the mugger in exactly the same place with exactly the same number of rounds. Don't get me wrong, I love my .45 and it's my preferred caliber, but it's not a "magic bullet".govnor wrote: He pulled out a .25 and unloaded it into the mugger. The mugger then looks at him, turns around and runs around the corner where he collapsed and died.
Thing is though...six or seven shots and the guy was still able to run away!
An attacker can be fatally wounded and still have a couple of minutes' worth of fight left in him. The mugger in your story chose to run away, instead of attack. You have to be prepared for the latter, too.
Kevin