WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A security guard at a Worcester rooming house charged with fatally shooting the building's janitor has been ordered held without bail.
A not guilty plea was entered on behalf of 53-year-old Howard Penn in court on Monday. He's charged with killing 52-year-old Lloyd Worster at the Albion rooming house on Friday.
A rooming house resident is charged with being an accessory after the fact for allegedly hiding the gun used in the shooting. That resident pleaded not guilty and was held pending a dangerousness hearing.
Penn's lawyer said the shooting was in self-defense.
The Telegram & Gazette reports that police say Penn was employed by building management to be the rooming house's security guard. Security personnel are not armed.
It was the city's first homicide of the year.