Because I can see from the surveillance video that this is not a B&T Station SIX-9/VP9, a Welrod, or a Bell Gun (an actual veterinarian “humane killer”), and because while I have not fired any of those weapons (although I’ve handled and cycled a VP9), I have fired hundreds of semi-automatic short recoil action pistols, and what the shooter is doing is quite evidently clearing a failure to return to battery with a standard tap-rack-bang drill; hence, why it is reported that there were found three fired cases and three unfired cartridges, as with every failure the shooter manually cycled the slide, ejecting a partially chambered but unfired cartridge. The action on a V&T SS9 or VP9 involves twisting the bolt open by clutching a knurled knob at the back of the gun, rotating the gun upside down to cause the cartridge to fall out of the chamber (because there is no ejector), and then rotating the bolt back to pick up another cartridge from the magazine, as shown in the videos in the post linked above. A ‘Bell Gun’ (actually numerous types) is a single shot pistol that has to be partially disassembled to eject the spent case and load a new cartridge.
In this case, it is quite clear that the shooter is using a standard striker-fired pistol (I would guess a Glock or Springfield XD because they are ubiquitous and easy to find threaded barrels to take a suppressor but the video is too grainy identification) with what is likely either a homemade or cheap suppressor that was not correctly fitted to the gun (did not install a stiffer recoil spring or it is interfering with the slide upon return to battery), causing the gun to repeatedly malfunction. You can see a puff of smoke coming up from the open ejection port while the gun is cycling, which would not happen with the manual bolt action of a VP9/SS9 or a Welrod, and these guns are likely too expensive and exotic for a shooter to easily procure (particularly the WWII-era Welrod, which was never imported to the United States in quantity and is a highly sought after collector’s item). It is also clear that while the shooter knows basic firearm use and how to clear a failure, they are not some kind of highly trained “professional assassin” (a breed of expert criminal which, outside of state-sponsored covert action and terrorism, exists almost exclusively in the minds of screenwriters because the economics of that vocation don’t really favor it) because someone who knew what they were doing would have gotten much closer, put the rounds into the back of the head, and would likely have used a smaller caliber weapon like a .32 ACP or even a .22 LR, which require a much smaller suppressor and are plenty lethal at near contact range.
Any time you hear anything about the details of a firearm or its use in the media you should discount it as false or at least mangled until verified by someone who is actually familiar with firearms because the vast majority of journalists know virtually nothing about firearms and just repeat what they heard someone else say even if it is obviously wrong.
Stranger