It's my understanding that when the heart stops beating, there is no longer any outward bleeding. Maybe I'm wrong. If this is the case, instant death would produce little blood. Was the gun found in the culvert, the type that produced a big bang, or a little pop? It would be hard to fire some guns without neighbors hearing it go off. I was just wondering if this question had been answered and I missed it?
I agree as far as very little blood with some gun shot wounds. As for the sound of a hand gun in the house, it's going to sound like a pop, a single firecracker or perhaps a car backfiring.
Some years ago we had a home invasion and I fired two shots with a 357 from the inside of the house (one was coming in the front door and one coming in the back). We live in the city with neighbors on all sides of us and not one neighbor heard any of it.