German exchange student's friend: I never thought garage break-ins could be fatal

• Teenager Diren Dede was fatally shot by Montana homeowner during break-in
  
• Homeowner on trial for deliberate homicide; neighbors say he spoke of ‘baiting’

A friend of the German exchange student who was killed in a Montana garage said that breaking into garages was a common pastime for teens in Missoula, but no one thought it could be fatal.

Robby Pazmino, who was with Diren Dede the night he died, testified on Tuesday. It was the sixth day in the trial of Markus Kaarma, who is accused of deliberate homicide in the 27 April shooting.

Dede, who Pazmino called his best friend, entered Kaarma’s garage just after midnight to find alcohol. Pazmino estimated that the two had “garage-hopped” three to five sites with local teenagers.

“I thought it wasn’t good and I didn’t like it, but we didn’t know that if you went into a garage someone could shoot you,” Pazmino said.

Pazmino said he heard a voice say: “I see you,” and then heard the first of four gunshots. He said he took off running to Dede’s host parents’ house, thinking his friend was close behind. He didn’t learn Dede had been shot until returning to the scene with Dede’s host parents.

The defense says the students were part of a band of teenagers that burglarized homes, and pressed Pazmino on why he broke Montana state law. Pazmino repeatedly insisted that garage-hopping was a game.

Some of Kaarma’s neighbors also testified on Tuesday. At least two said that he and his partner, Janelle Pflager, had used words like “baiting” when talking about their plans to catch the people they had said had burglarized their garage.

Robin Rosenquist, who lives across the street from the couple, said they told her they were disappointed in the police response to the burglary, and did not want to follow directions to keep their doors locked and garage closed.

When Rosenquist asked them if they believed burglars would target their house again in spite of how upset they were, she claims Pflager said: “Oh yeah, he’s coming back because we are going to bait him.”

A toxicologist report showed that Kaarma had marijuana in his blood at the time of the shooting while Dede’s blood was clean.

Montana’s stand-your-ground gun clause permits homeowners to use deadly force if they think their residence is being threatened and they are at risk. More than 30 US states have similar home-defense laws.

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