Minnesota homeowner goes on trial for teen intruders' deaths

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A Minnesota man on trial for killing two teenagers after they broke into his house had planned the killings, and was lying in wait in his basement with a book, some snacks and two guns, prosecutors said Monday. But a defense attorney countered that his client was terrified after several increasingly violent break-ins and hid after hearing a window break and footsteps upstairs.

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"He's looking, facing up at me, and I shoot him in the face. I want him dead," Smith told investigators.

Smith said he put Brady's body on a tarp so he wouldn't get blood into his carpet, dragged it into his workshop, reloaded his rifle and sat down.

Smith described feeling adrenaline, and "blood was pounding in my ears." He said he also felt he was being ganged up on, something he called one of his "red buttons." So when he saw Kifer come down the stairs minutes later, "I killed her too."

He shot her, and when he tried to "finish her off" his rifle jammed and she laughed, he said.

"I just pulled out the 22 and I shot her," he told authorities. He said he then pulled her into the workshop, but she was still gasping, so "I did a good, clean finishing shot and she gave out the death twitch."

He said he didn't call police because the teens were already dead and "just cause my Thanksgiving is screwed up I don't need to screw up yours." The next day, he asked a neighbor to call police.

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