OK, that came off as unhelpful. If you've never shot a gun, bow and arrow, or slingshot, or anything like that, it's non-obvious: very small changes in angle and aim can result in very large differences in where a projectile hits.

Ordinary people have a difficult time hitting a target at 10 yards in a perfectly safe and calm environment, due only to the fact that even pulling the trigger can cause the gun to wobble a tiny bit. People who are anxious, anticipating the bang, hopped up on drugs, or using a gun they're not diligently practicing with are all subject to missing a hell of a lot more than they hit.

So what probably happened is this guy got all shaky from adrenaline/whatever drugs made "shoot a kid" look like a good idea/whatever psychosis, anger, or other emotion that led up to this incident. He pulled the trigger, but let the gun shake or pull off-aim as well. That, or he didn't really aim at all, just imagining the bullets would go where he wanted them to. Bad guys watch movies, too, and are not known for their diligent self-improvement habits. They don't generally put in a lot of range time practicing. At least, not on any of the ranges I've been to. Those were all grannies, dads teaching their little girls to shoot, and families. Didn't see any drug dealers.

So I'm assuming that drug dealers probably don't have very good gun skills. I could be wrong, as I don't hang out with any drug dealers!

Surviving a shot to the head like this probably means a graze, a skull fracture, but not a direct hit. Shooter missed.

Some people do survive a direct shot to the skull, either with brain damage or with surprisingly little damage. Some get hit in the ear, jaw, or neck with non-lethal damage. I was sitting in a hospital ER waiting room once, and saw a dude wheeled in with a gunshot wound to the head - alert, and bleeding obvious skull-blood. The brain is weird, man. That guy may have lost actual brain matter, but still walked out of the hospital later on.