The man accused in the Christmas Day stabbing of a CVS employee pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday in a Riverhead court. John Pilaccio, 43, of Lindenhurst, is charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder in the death of Edeedson Cine Jr., 23, of West Babylon. Pilaccio denied those charges at his arraignment in Suffolk County Supreme Court and was remanded without bail.

Prosecutors say Pilaccio allegedly stabbed Cine to death on Christmas night at the CVS on East Montauk Highway and Wellwood Avenue. "This senseless tragedy should never have happened," Suffolk District Attorney Raymond Tierney said in a statement Wednesday.

As News 12 previously reported, Pilaccio entered the store in Lindenhurst a little before 7 p.m. and attacked Cine in an attempted robbery, police said. Cine was hurried to a hospital with a chest wound, but was pronounced dead within an hour of the stabbing, prosecutors said. Prosecutors have previously said Pilaccio confessed to killing Cine, and revealed he was driven by his debt.