WOBURN, Mass. (AP) — Two men have pleaded not guilty to charges including murder in the fatal shooting last week of an Army veteran at a home in Stoneham.
A prosecutor said at their arraignment Monday that 24-year-old Jessie Williams of Medford and 19-year-old Eugene Tate of Malden intended to pull off a drug robbery, and shot two men after an argument.
Twenty-seven-year-old Joseph Puopolo was killed, and a 28-year-old man was wounded.
The Middlesex district attorney's office says Puopolo went to the home at the request of a friend who had arranged to sell drugs to the defendants. The friend was concerned the defendants might try to rob him.
Prosecutor Tom O'Reilly said Williams told police about the circumstances. Tate's attorney questioned the credibility of witnesses who said her client took part.
Puopolo's father said his son served in Afghanistan.