by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First – republished from Caledonian-Record
BURLINGTON — A St. Johnsbury woman has been accused of buying firearms for a dangerous Hartford, CT gang member, who is charged in a homicide case in his home state and attempted murder in an earlier Caledonia County incident.
Elizabeth Pappalardo, 24, is charged with making false statements to licensed gun dealers during purchases in St. Johnsbury and Hardwick and also with providing the firearms to a person prohibited by law from possessing them, court records show.
Pappalardo bought a Glock 9-mm at SMD Outdoors on Railroad Street in St. Johnsbury on April 7, 2022, and a Glock 10-mm at Rite Way Sports on Wolcott Street in Hardwick on April 16, 2022, and turned them over to Paul Downer, 25, of Hartford CT, according to the federal criminal complaint. Read more about the Pappalardo case here
Downer is charged with murdering a grocery store clerk in Hartford on April 22. He also is charged with a drug-related shooting in St. Johnsbury. After St. J police arrested him in February, 2021, Vermont Judge Michael Harris released Downer on $5000 bail to live with his parents in Connecticut. Following the April 22 shooting, he’s being held on $2 million bail.