believe diren dede was armed and ready to attack. and because he felt his life was threatened by the movement, specifically, of mr. dede, he had to take the steps, unfortunately, to take his life. the danger of a burglar is when there s a confrontation, and they all want to escape, and they ll do whatever they can to get away. reporter: the defense said there was no debate over one central fact. diren dede went into that garage to steal. and on the stand, kaarma s lawyer got diren s friend robby to admit that despite warnings, diren didn t see much wrong with garage hopping. i think diren never felt like it was a crime. but you were warning him. you were telling him it wasn t right. it was reckless. it was dangerous, right? yeah. yeah. like, i understand on this way. but he maybe didn t understand. reporter: in fact, the defense suggested that diren was part of a local burglary ring that was stealing more than just beer and may have been behind
finds themself in the position that i was put into. reporter: the judge sentenced him to 70 years in prison. i almost wish he never said sorry. because it was so empty and his face had just no expression. it was, like, scary almost. we were all like taken aback. i was like take it back. there was no meaning in that. reporter: and they say garage hopping is no longer popular. have attitudes changed about all of that since then? of course. yeah. i haven t heard a thing about it since. it s unheard of. yeah. reporter: diren s friends hope that people will forget the one deadly mistake diren made, and remember the bright, charming guy they loved. you know, you re all pretty young to have to go through this. you feel like this has changed you? yeah. one hundred percent. yeah, every day you wake up, you think, obviously, something like that could happen and you need to, like, do things that matter. life seem a little more precious now? uh-huh.
radar in law enforcement? no. i had not heard garage hopping. no. these three friends of darren s say they had never gone garage hopping, but they know all about it. you all know people who do it or have done? yeah where. they understand it s illegal. yeah. but it seemed harmless. yeah, exactly. i mean, it s just you re, like, hey, dude, this is a way for you to get some extra beer. you know, when you are on a saturday night. i mean, did you think to yourself, you know, oh, my god, we didn t realize how dangerous that could be. but no one knew. no one would ever, ever be, like, hey, don t walk into that garage. you don t know if someone will shoot you. robbie told police that darren had done it before, but never taken cash or valuable property. he wasn t a criminal. he was like a kid. he was a kid trying to have fun and fit in the group, doing what the other guys do. trying to be part of them. was it really that innocent?
finds themself in the position that i was put into. reporter: the judge sentenced him to 70 years in prison. i almost wish he never said sorry. because it was so empty and his face had just no expression. it was, like, scary almost. we were all like taken aback. i was like take it back. there was no meaning in that. reporter: and they say garage hopping is no longer popular. have attitudes changed about all of that since then? of course. yeah. i haven t heard a thing about it since. it s unheard of. yeah. reporter: diren s friends hope that people will forget the one deadly mistake diren made, and remember the bright, charming guy they loved. you know, you re all pretty young to have to go through this. you feel like this has changed you? yeah. one hundred percent. yeah, every day you wake up, you think, obviously, something like that could happen and you need
to find out the truth they needed to learn more about their german exchange student. here, again, is josh mankomanko with deadly exchange. exchange student darren was just two months away from returning to his family in germany when he was shot in a garage. the man who shot him said he feared for his life and for darren s best friend robbie, police learned the teen did enter the garage to steal. as robbie described it, darren was not the first kid in mizzoula to go sneaking into unlocked garages. he said the kids weren t after money, credit cards, or valuables. this stunt happened often enough that it had a name. garage hopping. the target was usually beer. the reason for garage hopping or garage shopping i ve heard it called both was for kids to go in and look for alcoholic beverages that they could easily get or take. until this shooting, that sort of wasn t on anybody s