SAN DIEGO — The 27-year-old man accused of slashing a pregnant woman at a Mira Mesa ATM the weekend of June 15 was arraigned on an attempted murder charge Thursday afternoon and pleaded not guilty.
Cole Klemke is currently being held without bail.
"My heart just dropped, I literally, I'm still very shook up about it," said Glenn Karp, a longtime family friend of the Klemkes, after learning the news of his arrest. He coached Klemke's baseball team when he was young.
"Cole, his entire life was an exemplary kid, wonderful teammate, he was a quiet humble leader. Always one of the best players in the Del Mar Little League," said Karp.
Klemke is from Carmel Valley. He played baseball at Torrey Pines High School. He attended the University of Nebraska on an athletic scholarship and played on the Division I team for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
Karp said after Klemke's freshman year in college, his dad confided in Karp that something was very wrong.
"I said, 'What's going on?' He told me that Coach Erstad had called them, saying [Cole] was not showing up for mandatory workouts and they had gone to check up on him and he was in his room talking to himself and talking to imaginary people," said Karp.
Karp described Klemke's parents as wonderful people. His dad is a UC San Diego professor who does cancer research. He said they tried to get their son help, but nothing worked.
"I know he went through a period of time where he had crashed a car, thinking the person in the lane next to him was talking to him," he added.
CBS 8 obtained a copy of a domestic violence restraining order filed in 2020 against Klemke by his mother. In it, she told the judge her son's methamphetamine use made him violent and abusive. She said he had been in and out of rehab for mental health issues and substance abuse since 2018.
She wrote of incidents where arguments turned violent. Regarding a fight in June of 2020, she wrote:
"During an argument over Cole's drug use while he was high, Cole took a pen and held it up to my husband's throat and made a threat to cut his head off. The police came and removed Cole from the home. My husband declined to press charges at the time. We wanted to try to get him into a rehab program."
She also wrote about an incident in July of 2020 where she said during an argument Cole got angry and threw a banana and hit her in the chest, while calling her names and being verbally abusive. She wrote:
"He said that if he had a gun he would 'pull the trigger' and blow my head off."
"I want him to get some help," said Karp. "He's still a kid, still a young man. Obviously, it doesn't excuse his behavior in any way, this is not a defense of what he's done, it's awful. But this kid is not right in his head, he's not been right."
Klemke was arrested one day after the stabbing. He remains in custody without bail following Thursday afternoon's arraignment.
Klemke faces up to 14 years and 10 months to life in state prison if convicted of all charges. Along with attempted murder, he's charged with mayhem and robbery in connection with the stabbing.
He's also charged with felony vandalism and brandishing a knife in connection with a separate incident that allegedly occurred two weeks before the stabbing.
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