PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. (Court TV) — A former firefighter took the stand in his own defense on Wednesday, telling the jury that he shot his wife four times, but that he only did so because he thought she shot him first.
Guy Paider testifies on Nov. 4, 2026. (Court TV)
Guy Paider, 54, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless injury in the shooting of his wife at their home.
Paider said he met his wife in 2007, and they married in 2009. The couple has two children, ages 16 and 14. Paider testified that most of the time, “we got along fairly well,” referring to his wife. “I guess we had standard communication issues. That would probably be our biggest problem: just communicating.”
The couple began discussing divorce in the first week of October 2025. Paider testified that on Oct. 24, his wife met with a divorce attorney while he stayed home cooking dinner with their then-12-year-old daughter. “She came home and did her normal maneuvers,” Paider said of his wife on that day. He said he asked how the meeting with the attorney went, but she didn’t want to discuss it in front of their daughter. Once the child went to her bedroom, the couple spoke briefly about next steps in the divorce before his wife left the room.
“I noticed when she left that she was kind of walking goofy, but when she came back in, she was kind of like, walking in a different way,” Paider testified. “And then I was cooking, and then all of a sudden, I looked over, she’s on the floor next to me, about 4 or 5 feet to my right.”
Paider said that he tried to assess his wife’s condition, but she was not responsive. Eventually, she made it clear she wanted to get up, so he helped her up. “She was kind of weak in the knees, if you will, and just started screaming, ‘[daughter’s name] call 911! Call 911’ just hysterically.” At that point, Paider said, he was concerned his wife had a head injury.
Paider said his wife then walked to the master bedroom, as he followed closely behind to make sure she was OK. Once in the bedroom, Paider said that she “went to the dresser, and she said, ‘You’re not kicking me out of this country. You’re not taking my kids. You’re going to die.'” Then, he said, she opened the dresser drawer.
Reaching into the dresser, Paider said, he found a gun and moved it out of the way. He said the gun should not have been there and that he did not place it there. “There should never be a gun outside of a locked device in our house,” he said. “They’re 100% locked up.”
At that point, Paider said, his wife began crying hysterically. He went to check on his daughter, who was calling the police, before rushing back into the bedroom. Paider said that his wife had moved onto the bed and was sitting against the headboard, repeating, “You’re going to die,” before she suddenly reached under the pillows. “I thought that she had a gun or something,” Paider said. “The aggressive look on her face and the aggressive nature of grabbing onto the pillows, I thought she had a gun.”
Paider went into the bathroom and backed into the door before hearing a noise. “When I hit the bathroom, that’s when I heard a large bang. And then my back hurt,” he said. “I thought she shot me.”
“And what did you do?” his attorney prompted.
Paider began to cry as he responded: “I returned fire.” The victim did not have a weapon, the defendant conceded from the witness stand.
Under cross-examination, Paider admitted that he hadn’t been happy about the idea of getting divorced. “I didn’t ask for a divorce,” he said. “I don’t believe in divorce, just through the Bible. When God joins, we shouldn’t separate. But I understand it was her decision.”
Paider also admitted that he had threatened to report his wife to immigration enforcement; when asked, the defendant conceded that his wife is an American citizen, though she was born in Peru. “Right now she is [a citizen],” he said. “By my request.”
The defense rested its case without calling any other witnesses.
