Markus Kaarma, a Montana resident convicted last December of homicide for intentionally baiting “burglars” into his detached garage with the intent of killing them in “self defense,” is originally from Washington and went to high school with a few friends of mine. Apparently at some point early on, he earned the nickname “Crazy Kaarma.” It doesn’t sound like much has changed since. He allegedly earned the nickname for. . .
what might otherwise be deemed “teen angst” had he eventually grown out of it. Anger issues, beating people up. Generally anti-social, “aggro,” behavior and, well, just being “Crazy Kaarma.” Although, bullying younger kids and urinating on them certainly turns the teen angst-ometer up to 11.
The judge, in explaining his decision to sentence ol’ CK to 70 years in prison, gave a pretty good picture of just how angry and disturbed this guy really is. Doing things like driving down the street at four mph just to goad people into passing, then cutting them off, exiting the car, and initiating vulgarity-laden confrontations.
Of course, it all culminated in Kaarma rigging his garage with motion sensors that alerted him inside his home, then leaving the garage door open, the lights on, with a purse visible just inside. He told his hair stylist that he had been staying up at night just waiting to shoot some kids who were suspected of burglarizing garages in the area. And it looks like that’s just what he did.
When the alarm was tripped, he exited his house, walked over to the detached garage and without even seeing (let alone identifying) his target he fired a few shotgun blasts blindly into the space. Apparently this wounded the unarmed victim, who was allegedly pleading for his life when Kaarma fired a fourth and final time time, killing the German exchange student.
While Kaarma was in jail leading up to and during the trial, he reportedly was “running his mouth” to his wife and others on the jail’s monitored phone system. He was recorded making statements such as his opinion that he should be lauded as a hero, bragging about his actions. His wife commented about sending the “dirtbag kid’s” body back to his family in Germany (she sounds like a real piece of work also). Those and more were used against him during the trial. Not entirely the smartest tool in the shed garage.
Or maybe just he’s obstinate and entirely without remorse. You’d expect that even the least capable attorney in Montana would have repeatedly advised him against incriminating himself on the record. At any rate, I’d have to agree with the judge. This guy is a danger to society, isn’t likely to reform, and belongs behind bars for a long, long time. Crazy Kaarma indeed.
And just for the record, no, a gun wasn’t responsible for this death. And no, stricter ownership and background check laws wouldn’t have prevented this.