Teen charged in shooting death of Fayetteville veteran
Fayetteville police have charged an 18-year-old man with first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon in the shooting death of a Vietnam War veteran.
Posted — UpdatedTerrane Kulaia Dukes, of the 700 block of Weiss Avenue, was arrested Wednesday.
Fayetteville police say he shot Wolfgang Joppich, 67, in the chest shortly before 8 p.m. Sunday on Tally Ho Drive. Joppich was take to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
On Monday, investigators found Joppich's wallet and some other personal items in a dumpster on Pedro Drive.
Joppich, who was known to frequent the area of Bragg Boulevard to feed feral cats, lived out of a van for years after growing up in Germany and serving in the Army for 16 years.
In 2011, a Christian Ministry, Operation Inasmuch, provided him a home, which he shared with his housemate, Robert Scarboro.
Scarboro described Joppich as a "gentle soul" who often would take books and magazines to the Veterans Affairs hospital in Fayetteville.
"He was peaceful. He was loving," Scarboro said. "He would tell people on the streets that were homeless and hungry where they could be fed."
Dukes was in the Cumberland County jail without bond Wednesday night and is expected to make his first court appearance at 2 p.m. Thursday.
No other information was released, but officials from Operation Inasmuch and the Fayetteville Police Department are expected to discuss the case at a 9 a.m. press conference Thursday.
Anyone with information about Joppich's death should call the Fayetteville Police Department at 910-433-1856 or Crime Stoppers at 910-483-8477.
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