A ninja moment
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I wonder. Once mortal combat begins it's incompetent to stop before absolute certainty of victory. High adrenaline and fear can also explain some extra zealotry.
I've heard it said that if you're going to fight back in defensive scenarios, you may as well kill them, because if you don't, they'll sue.
Or pull a gun in their last moments of life to take you with them.
Yes, but that's not a legal argument. In fact, saying that in court as justification is a fucking terrible idea.
It may be additional rationale, but I'd imagine the best bet is to just stick to the explanation of adrenaline and self defense. Don't say you wanted to kill anyone; you wanted to defend yourself, and were (correctly) worried they were still a threat to you.
EDIT: Oh and, most importantly, don't say ANYTHING AT ALL without your lawyer present. Don't be like Alec Baldwin.
You can't really go wrong that way.
Cops are trained to shoot center mass (at the vital organs) and to keep shooting until the threat is stopped. The fact that this is one of the best ways to kill someone is incidental to stopping the threat.
Every single self defense trial where a prosecutor tries to argue that the defendent should have been able to calibrate his use of force to the exact moment that they believe (after the fact) that it was no longer needed should have the local police's use of force procedures thrown right back in their face.