I've noticed this lately and have always thought it was just because I was looking off to the side, or something to that effect... But I'm pretty sure it's actually because of the santa hat. You'll see I take a shot to the santa hat, which kills me in one hit. I was looking directly at the guy, it wasn't as if he had an angle past the shield. If you watch at .25 seconds, two of his shots even hit the metal, not my character, so it isn't the case of a latent gunfight. One shot, to the head, kills a blackbeard.
https://clips.twitch.tv/SmokyBovineYogurtOSsloth
https://clips.twitch.tv/SmokyBovineYogurtOSsloth