Defense attorney Robert Galantucci, John Wisse (STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)
YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST: A defense attorney this afternoon entered a not-guilty plea for an 83-year-old Hasbrouck Heights man who authorities said killed his 58-year-old tenant with a single gunshot to the chest during an argument over the wekend.
John C. Wisse was formally charged in a Hackensack courtroom with aggravated manslaughter and illegal weapons possession in the death of Gerald Velardi Jr. at his two-family Passaic Street home late Saturday afternoon.
Several of Velardi’s relatives and loved ones attended the brief hearing, as did a man who was with Wisse and conferred with defense attorney Robert Galantucci.
Sources told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that Wisse — who didn’t say anything in court today — called 911 around 5 p.m. Saturday to report the shooting.
The .38-caliber handgun was recovered, authorities said.
Wisse returned to the Bergen County Jail, where he remained held on $750,000 bail, after today’s hearing.
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