LIBERTY, MO (KCTV) -
A year and a half ago three young men were shot and killed at a Northland motel. One of the victims was a North Kansas City High School student. An 18-year-old was charged in the February 2011 shooting.
Just after 7 p.m. the jury in Isaac Perdomo-Paz's murder trial finished deliberating and found him guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and a third count of second-degree murder.
"I was really close with my brother," Armina Hamidovic said.
Armina Hamidovic's brother, 18-year-old Armin Hamidovic, was shot to death, along with Dejan Joksimovic, also 18, and a third victim, 22-year-old Delfino Elizondo.
Perdomo-Paz, now 20, is now found guilty of pulling the trigger at a party inside a Clay County Red Roof Inn in February 2011.
Prosecutors said the incident started as a fight over a girl.
"Like they said, Isaac smacked this girl. My brother got in it because he doesn't like people hitting females, so he (Perdomo-Paz) just shot him," Armina Hamidovic said.
She said her brother was in community college, working to better his life.
"I'd go everywhere with him. I'd talk to him about everything; he was really a good guy," she said.
Joksimovic was a student at North Kansas City High School - his mother was too broken up to speak Friday.
The family of the third victim, Delfino Elizondo, told KCTV5's Alice Barr his murder left two young children fatherless and robbed them all of a good, loving person.
Defense attorneys said it's a tragic crime, but they argue prosecutors have the wrong man, saying no physical evidence ties Perdomo-Paz to the crime and that the state relied heavily on witness testimony, from people they said admitted to lying at various points during the trial.
But the victim's families are convinced Perdomo-Paz did it and, while they waited for a verdict, they already knew how they wanted the story to end.
"I hope he gets the death penalty because he took three people's lives away. They should take his life away too," Armina Hamidovic said.
The jury started deliberating at 1 p.m. Friday. Just after 7 p.m., they found Perdomo-Paz guilty of two counts of first-degree murder - for Armin Hamidovic and Joksimovic's death - and a third count of second-degree murder for Elizondo's death. Perdomo-Paz was also found guilty of three counts of armed criminal action.
He faces life in prison.
"This was one of the most brutal crimes in recent Clay County history," Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Daniel White said in a news release.
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