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It really is indefensible if you shoot someone in the head
One of the reasons why my shooting instructor told me to always shoot center mass (as opposed to shooting anyone in the head) is because it really is indefensible if you shoot someone in the head or if you "finish someone off" with a "cap to the head" like a mafia assassin or wetwork operator.
When it comes to that "only shoot until the threat is neutralized" it's important to always take into consideration how the shooting will be perceived and that the shooting is never perceived as sociopathic, premeditated, brutal, or in bad faith.
That the shooting was both plausibly and probably a defensive act result based on a real-time spot-decision based on a calculus of survival and a real feeling of personal threat to one's life.
As a result, you actually don't need to already be beat-up or stabbed or attacked or raped or shot (or see an actual bowie knife or Colt .44 Magnum), but it doesn't hurt.
But, you don't even need to have hands-on you because the moment hands are on you, your firearm can be taken and used against you or you can lose the mobility required to defend yourself.
So, in the world of personal defense, there's no requirement of parity: it's not gun versus gun, knife versus knife, fist versus fist.