A district judge this morning ordered a Brookline man to stand trial on charges that he killed a convicted drug dealer in Homewood two years ago.

Police said Clifford Wilson, 22, shot William Ford, 31, of Penn Hills, multiple times on Feb. 13, 2010. Investigators said that bullets left about 55 holes in Mr. Ford's body, which police found in the 7200 block of Frankstown Avenue.

District Judge Richard King held Mr. Wilson for trial during a preliminary hearing this morning.

Detectives said Mr. Wilson told them he and Mr. Ford, the target of past shootings, were good friends and denied involvement in his death when they questioned him at police headquarters in September 2010. But detectives also gathered Mr. Wilson's DNA during the same interview, evidence that eventually linked Mr. Wilson to a pistol and a hat that were recovered at the crime scene, police said.