News: Man Arrested in CVS Robbery

(Long Island, N.Y.) Police arrested the man responsible for robbing a CVS Pharmacy in Farmingville a week after a robber shot and killed four people in a Medford Pharmacy. The man had stolen prescription drugs and cash after writing a note demanding cooperation from the pharmacy staff. Unlike the Medford shooter, he left the workers alive after he retrieved the items and exited on foot.

Detectives from the Sixth Squad apprehended the robber at around ten last night. The man was identified as a twenty-two-year-old Ronkonkoma resident and was later charged with robbery in the third degree. He was taken from his home and escorted by police wearing a brown printed t-shirt; he kept his head down as he was led onto a police bus.

Police and authorities on the case claimed that they probably would not have been as successful without the help of the press and public. All of the attention given to the case in the wake of the Medford tragedy aided investigators in capturing the repeat robber. Tips from Crime Stoppers were also factors in the positive outcome reached by detectives after an intense investigation.

One expert on the case claimed that synthetic opiates have become the gateway drug of the twenty-first century. While the older generations typically experimented with marijuana before trying drugs with more lethal outcomes, the youth of today are trying and abusing prescriptions drugs. These drugs can be easily accessed in the home and medicine cabinets.

Some investigators have suggested to younger generations that they should not take excessive prescription drugs or fill prescriptions without necessity. They have claimed that if one or two pills do the trick, people should avoid finishing the rest of the bottle. It is a policy of every precinct in Suffolk County to take the excess in a mailbox where drugs can be dropped off with no questions asked.

The man responsible for robbing the Farmingville CVS Pharmacy will be arraigned on Friday at the First District Court in Central Islip. Many followers of the case believe that a feeling of uneasiness still prevails in the mind of Long Islanders since the Father’s Day Massacre. Police and authorities have claimed that the Medford gunman was willing and almost eager to kill.

Experts on the case have stated that one of the public’s biggest fears was confirmed when a gunman proceeded to commit a random act of senseless murder. Detectives and investigators have claimed that the Medford shooter stalked out the drug store and had surveyed the surrounding area for days prior to the shooting.

Many Long Islanders have followed both instances of pharmacy robberies and believe that the twenty-two-year-old robber will face severe justice in response to the fear that had been planted in the minds of the public from the Medford shooter. Others wonder how many more will attempt similar crimes.

News: Details of the Medford Shooting

(Long Island, N.Y.) Police and authorities released detailed information about the video and audio surveillance taken from the pharmacy footage of the Medford shooting. The evidence implicates the suspected gunman who had been wearing a disguise at the time of the robbery. It’s likely that the video will not be released publicly out of respect to the four victims and their loved ones.

The video begins with a normal conversation between the forty-five-year-old pharmacist and the seventeen-year-old assistant. The pair had been making small talk about what they did the night before. The soon-to-be high school graduate had mentioned the dress her mother was planning to wear for the ceremony and the mass she attended the previous evening.

That exchange proved to be the last words she spoke, as the video soon captures the killer entering the pharmacy with a black backpack. He then places the backpack on the pharmacy counter and keeps his right hand inside. Police and authorities on the case believe that he had his hand on the murder weapon, a .45 caliber pistol.

The killer then engages in a normal conversation about drug interactions and suggests to the young assistant that he wished to speak alone with the pharmacist. She complies by exiting and walking into an adjoining alcove while the pharmacist continues to talk with him. The video then captures the backpack beginning to rise as the killer prepares to fire without any demands for drugs or money.

Shots are then fired through the backpack, and police believe that the killer had held the weapon on its side. Bullets fire into the pharmacist, striking him in the abdomen, but the video clearly captures him making movements and noises. Authorities believe that the pharmacist was alive when the killer moved to execute his next victim.

The video captures the killer taking the gun out of the backpack as he walked into a blind-spot where the footage is limited to audio. The helpless assistant is trapped within the alcove as he moves towards her. Screams are heard in addition to the firing of two loud shots.

After exiting the alcove, the killer then creeps upon the pharmacist and shoots him twice in the face at point-blank range while he is still moving. He then hides near the front door in an aisle as the seventy-one-year-old customer enters the store. He sneaks directly behind the victim before firing into the back of his head.

After walking over the victim, he goes behind the counter and begins to stuff drugs in his backpack. He hides between the aisles when the thirty-three-year-old customer enters the store and walks toward the pharmacy. Once again, the killer ambushes the final victim and shoots her in the back of the head.

In a desperate attempt to remove evidence, the killer wipes the counter with his long-sleeved black-hooded sweatshirt and inadvertently disregards the paper containing his fingerprints. Two separate prints of his left index finger are left to be recovered by investigators.

News: Woman Rescued by Police Officer

(Long Island, N.Y.) Today’s headlines have made a legend out of a heroic Suffolk County Police Officer who has been credited with saving a woman’s life. The incident involved a raging house fire and the excellent coaxing abilities of the officer, who eventually persuaded the woman to jump from her rooftop. Experts on the case have claimed that the woman was lucky to have leaped from the flames alive.

The incident occurred on Seaman Neck Road in Dix Hills and the roof was an estimated ten-to-twelve feet high. The assistant fire chief at the Dix Hills Fire Department claimed that he heard someone was on the roof via the official police radio on his way over to the scene of the fire. He stated that he expected the worst for the fate of those trapped inside.

The woman was alone in the house; her mother and thirteen-year-old son were vacationing in India. An estimated seventy-five volunteer firefighters responded to the incident from four different departments. Members of the Dix Hills, Commack, Melville, and Greenlawn Fire Departments all assisted in extinguishing the rampant scene of flames.

The fire took about forty minutes to bring under control and the incident occurred at roughly fifteen minutes to three in the morning. The thirty-seven-year-old woman claimed to have gone to sleep around thirty minutes past midnight and had awakened from the onset of her smoke alarm. She then proceeded to call emergency services and exited to the roof after climbing out of her bedroom window.

Reports stated that a Suffolk County Police Officer from the Second Precinct persuaded the woman to jump. She claimed that she was scared to go through with it and that the officer had to ask her three or four times before she complied. After assuring that he would catch her, the officer waited for the woman’s trust to supersede her fear before delivering on his promise.

In a leap of faith, the woman plunged from the top of her two-story home and into the officer’s embrace. After a safe landing, both were brought to Huntington Hospital and treated for minor injuries. The heroic police officer was treated for a hurt shoulder and the brave woman was treated for smoke inhalation.

The house was destroyed after being completely engulfed in the flames. Reports stated that the garage, kitchen, and surrounding rooms were entirely leveled and that the fire had caused the floor to give out. The severe damage has led several experts at the scene to consider the incident as a big fire, one with a heightened capacity for destruction.

The woman claimed that she couldn’t see anything but black smoke when she woke from her slumber. The incident is being investigated by the Suffolk County Police Arson Squad. It is also being examined by the Town of Huntington Fire Marshall.

News: Justice For Pharmacy Robbers

(Long Island, N.Y.) In the past few weeks two different Long Island pharmacies were ransacked for prescription drugs. Police and authorities on both cases have made developments in recent hours aiding in the prosecution of one suspect and the detainment of the other. Swift justice has been given to the thirty-three-year-old alleged gunman of the Medford massacre, and surveillance video of the suspect in Sunday’s CVS robbery will help insure his capture.

The charges against the suspected shooter in the deaths of four victims on Father’s Day were unsealed today in a Riverhead courtroom. The suspect, who has been referred to as a mass murderer, appeared for a ten-minute hearing while the charges were revealed. He has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder and could face a maximum punishment of five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

The five counts of murder were part of a nine-count grand jury indictment, which also included four counts of criminal use of a firearm. The alleged shooter could face a maximum sentence of twenty years for each of the four counts. The five counts of murder are part of an umbrella charge given to those suspected of multiple murders.

The suspect was seen wearing a gray t-shirt and dark pants and reports stated that he spoke only once after a judged addressed him. He was asked if he wished to be continually represented by his current lawyer and confirmed that he did. The judge later ordered him remanded at a Suffolk County jail in Riverhead.

Reports also stated that over twenty family members of the four victims attended the hearing but declined to speak to the press. They exited the courtroom in a unison band of tearful grimaces, mentally preparing themselves for the suspect’s next expected court date for the first week of September. Justice for the suspected gunman became a bittersweet reminder of the lives lost in the tragedy.

In other news, the Suffolk County Police Department released the surveillance video capturing the man responsible for robbing prescription drugs and cash from a CVS Pharmacy in Farmingville. The video was released today and shows the robber moving around inside the store at 935 Horseblock Road this past Sunday. According to sources, police had previously released photos of the robber.

The culprit is a man in his early twenties with a thin build and roughly five-feet-eight-inches in height. He was wearing a white baseball cap with a red brim tilted sideways and a dark gray zip-up hooded sweatshirt. He was captured scratching his face and looking around nervously.

Police and authorities on the case are urging anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers and Sixth Squad Detectives. There is currently a five-thousand dollar-reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest of the man seen in the twenty-second video. All calls and tips will remain anonymous.

News: Search for Evidence in Medford Shooting

(Long Island, N.Y.) The Suffolk County Police Department aided officials in the investigation for evidence to implicate the Medford shooter. Homicide Squad Detectives canvassed the area of the gunman’s home where a thorough raid was conducted less than a week ago. Crime scene technicians also helped to examine the suburban backdrop, searching for clues with gloves and shovels.

Experts on the case opened storm drains near the alleged shooter’s residence in order to determine whether the stolen drugs had been disregarded through the sewer. Police and authorities had reason to believe that the Medford gunman used the drains as a makeshift depository for up to ten-thousand pills of hydrocodone. The location of the extensive search was at Pitchpine Place in Medford, just a short distance away from the pharmacy where four were gunned down.

Police and authorities did all that they could to place their suspect at the scene of the June 19th robbery and quadruple homicide. They hope to find solid evidence to supplement the fingerprints collected from the pharmacy’s counter. Fingerprint evidence could be potentially argued as circumstantial during the trial phase of court proceedings based on the suspected shooter’s frequent visits to the pharmacy.

Investigators and detectives on the case are looking to find containers and packaging materials in addition to searching for the large quantity of stolen prescription painkillers. The suspect is currently in protective custody inside a Riverhead jail cell. His lawyer has reason to believe he could be harmed by fellow inmates.

The charges against the suspect have been sealed in a Riverhead court but are expected to be unsealed in coming days. Reports have stated that the suspect faces robbery and a gun possession weapons charge in addition to four counts of first-degree murder. Some sources claimed that more information won’t be revealed until Friday.

The suspect’s wife has been charged with felony robbery and is being represented by a legal aid attorney. Following her arrest, she informed officials of her decision to wave the right to be formally charged by the deadline. In doing so, she declined protection under a law that states a defendant must be indicted within five days of an arrest before being freed without the obligation of bail.

Reports have claimed that there is reason to believe that the twenty-nine-year-old assisted her thirty-three-year-old husband in planning the crime. Family members and loved ones of the four victims have expressed their desire to see the case taken over by federal prosecutors. While such a move is unlikely to occur, a federal case could ensure that the suspects face the death penalty for their actions.

Some sources have stated that the suspect had been beaten by police during his arrest, and that the bruises on his face were the result of frustrations in not getting the desired confession. Authorities have claimed that the suspect grabbed an officer’s weapon and sustained the injuries in the process. He had to be hospitalized for two black eyes and a bloody face.

News: LI Woman Killed by Robbers’ Car

(Long Island, N.Y.) Two people were charged with robbing from a major Long Island shopping center about a week after a Medford man allegedly shot and killed four people in a pharmacy. The recent string of robberies along Long Island has gotten many residents wondering about the cause of this heightened rate of crime. Some feel that the state of the economy is responsible for promoting excessive measures towards obtaining capital, extreme behavior, and violent crimes.

A twenty-six-year-old and an eighteen-year-old have been charged with criminal possession in the third-degree after stealing from Tanger Outlets. The duo was responsible for crashing their car after fleeing from police in a chase along the Long Island Expressway. The car they hit was severely damaged, killing the female occupant and injuring her sixty-one-year-old husband.

The incident occurred Monday afternoon and began after four thousand dollars was stolen from the shopping area. Members of the Riverhead Police Department had radioed a description of the vehicle connected with the robbery. The vehicle was a Lincoln Town Car that contained three occupants. Reports have stated that each of them had to be hospitalized for non-threatening injuries.

It is uncertain what injuries were sustained by the husband of the deceased. The collision occurred along a service road in Bohemia. The speed of both vehicles was unknown, but police and authorities on the case have been conducting an investigation into the collision. According to sources, the young drivers engaged in a seven-mile evasion route from police that began at around one in the afternoon.

Reports also stated that the charges against the persons responsible for the robbery reflect property that was stolen from Tanger Outlets. Sources have stated that the pair has been held at Suffolk County Jail on a $200,000 cash bond.

In other news, the wife of the suspected Medford gunman has not yet been indicted by a grand jury. According to reports, the twenty-nine-year-old has been cooperating with police to cut a deal in exchange for information that will implicate her husband in the robbery/shooting. She had been accused of helping her husband with his disguise and driving the vehicle that took him to and from the pharmacy.

Though she had claimed that killing was not part of the plan, she also chanted that he did it and that she was unaware he had been armed with a handgun. Her husband’s lawyer has stated that she is likely cooperating with authorities with the hopes of avoiding homicide charges. Nonetheless, she could face felony murder charges that would land her a sentence of twenty-five to life.

The grand jury is set to consider the evidence against her and it is uncertain whether she is willing to testify against her husband. It’s likely that her husband’s defense is to depict a case of mistaken identity, and that the legal aid attorney will try to maintain that he had been wrongfully taken as the shooter. Assuming he is convicted, he could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In the meantime, the thirty-three-year-old alleged gunman has been placed on suicide watch, though his lawyer has stated that he is not suicidal. The defense attorney also claimed that her client had not been treated for withdrawal at the time of his arrest and that he doesn’t know what the police have been searching for in their ongoing investigation. He is being accused of firing seven bullets, some of which were shot directly into the back of the victims’ heads.

News: Update for the Medford Shooting

(Long Island, N.Y.) A week after the tragedy, Long Island residents are still mourning the untimely deaths of the four victims in the Medford shooting. Since the Father’s Day massacre, people have been closely following the case by keeping up to speed with court proceedings. After being arraigned, the thirty-three-year-old suspect from Medford has been indicted this week by a grand jury.

Additional charges are expected to be brought against his wife, the twenty-nine-year-old woman who drove the getaway car with her husband to and from the pharmacy. Early in the case, it was believed that her husband stole the prescription drugs for her, a motive she revealed while coopering with police and authorities. No other motive has been given by any other source in correlation with the crime.

She is expected to testify in front of the grand jury after being held on three-quarters of a million dollars cash bail or a one-and-a-half million dollars in bond. She was arraigned Friday and was initially charged with third-degree robbery. She was also charged with preventing officers from doing their job during the raid that led to her arrest.

The Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney working on the case claimed that the suspect’s wife admitted her role in the crime. The prosecutor also stated that the Father’s Day massacre was the most horrific and chilling robbery-murder in Suffolk County history. It’s likely that the top charge against the suspect’s wife will be upgraded.

Reports stated that police and authorities on the case have reason to believe that she helped her husband with his disguise. According to sources, she assisted her husband in applying a fake beard which he wore during the robbery. Surveillance captured the suspect entering and exiting the pharmacy.

Sources also stated that she gave him a prescription written to her, and it is unsure whether he used it prior to Sunday’s incident. The pharmacy has remained closed since the tragedy and reports stated that an influx of visitors and mourners pay tribute to the area around the clock. Many of the bereaved don’t know the victims but grieve along with family members and friends of the four who lost their lives in the shooting.

In the wake of the incident, many residents have claimed that there has been an increase in drug awareness across Long Island. There has been a heightened amount of police patrols and legislation that limits access to other potentially addictive drugs and medication. Some believe that the only solution to the problem is in preventing the drugs from being prescribed.

News: Medford Shooting Victims

(Long Island, N.Y.) Since a gunman seeking prescription drugs took the lives of four people, Long Island residents have been following the story of the Medford tragedy. Four sets of funerals and wakes were scheduled in the past week. Memorial services and dedications were conducted, one of which was intended for a seventeen-year-old girl set to graduate high school.

Another victim, a seventy-one-year-old man, was preparing to celebrate his fiftieth wedding anniversary at the time of the shooting. Friends and family members of the couple had scheduled a surprise celebration for the July 16th occasion. The victim had been married to his Babylon High School sweetheart, and remained devoted to her throughout the final moments of his life.

His wife had undergone a triple-bypass heart surgery on June 13th and was still recovering from the procedure. She had been cared for at Stony Brook University Medical Center. The surgery had been postponed once before due to a case of poison ivy.

This time, everything went as scheduled and the only thing left to do was retrieve her medication from the local pharmacy. While the seventy-one-year-old would have done so the night before the incident, he was forced to return the following morning when the store reopened. Picking up the prescription from Haven Drugs was the first task on his Sunday morning/Father’s Day to-do list.

The forty-five-year-old pharmacist who lost his life after chatting with the gunman had spent Saturday night with co-workers from a different pharmacy. Since he and his wife had no children, he agreed to work on Sunday in the place of a fellow employee and father. He was best known for his calm, smiling demeanor and having assisted an elderly woman in her car.

The woman’s child attended his services along with classmates from the St. Francis Preparatory School Class of ’83. They claimed that he took extra shifts with the hopes of retiring early and frequently made the ten-mile trip to work from his home in Centereach. He received his pharmacy degree at St. John’s University and often got together with old friends and classmates.

The thirty-three-year-old victim was a woman planning an elaborate Father’s Day BBQ just months before her scheduled wedding. Guests were expected at two-thirty that afternoon and were to be served everything from lamb chops to filet mignon. She had spent an estimated three-hundred dollars on groceries for the party, and was picking up her thyroid medicine as the start to a hectic day.

The fall wedding was to be celebrated at the Brentwood Country Club. She lived in Farmingville with her fiancé, a man who referred to her as the perfect wife. This was to be her second marriage; the first ended in divorce in 2006 after fifteen years. She had a sixteen-year-old and six-year-old daughter with her first husband and worked as a physical therapist’s aide at St. Charles Rehab in Centereach.

The seventeen-year-old victim was a regular church attendee, and did so in the days prior to the incident. That Father’s Day morning she rushed out of the house, running late for her 10am shift, and assured her father that she’d see him later. She didn’t have time to give him a hug.

News: Safety Concerns For Bouncing Houses

(Long Island, N.Y.) Long Islanders have been looking to increase regulation of inflatable houses after children and parents were injured at a June 4th soccer tournament in Oceanside. The incident hurt thirteen people, including a thirty-six-year-old mother who attended the event with her son. Reports stated that she suffered critical head and spinal injuries after three separate bouncing houses became airborne.

Strong winds were a factor at the Oceanside tournament, and an update on the woman’s condition has not been revealed. The company associated with the incident was called Affordable Inflatables & Party Rentals. The Oceanside soccer club hired the company for the tournament, and reports stated that they had used the company before without any issues.

Nonetheless, the weather still managed to overtake the occasion even after the company installed and supervised three inflatable houses. Bouncing houses are often used in backyards, carnivals, and indoor gyms and are rented for birthdays or neighborhood block parties. They have been popular since the nineties, and there has been an increase in their demand in recent years.

Members from the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office are joining staff at the Consumer Product Safety Commission to examine the June 4th incident. It’s often that bouncing houses are sold for private events. Some followers of the case have questioned whether the private sector is prepared to handle the safety concerns of the inflatable houses.

The houses are a popular attraction at fairs and amusement parks, some of which are required by law to inspect their rides. However, certain parks only inspect rides that are mechanical, overlooking the potential risks of rides that are deemed safer. Between the years of 2003 and 2007 there were over thirty-thousand bouncing house injuries that led to emergency room visits.

Of these injuries, four deaths were reported and statistics show that bouncing house hazards are on the rise. While only about five-thousand injuries were reported in 2003, as many as 8,348 were reported for 2007. Such facts have the Labor Department of Safety and Health inspecting the houses and ensuring that the operators are trained and prepared.

Reports stated that only houses more than twenty feet high require inspection, and that the rules apply to attractions that involve slides or wall climbing. Many bouncing house rental companies are not regulated by the state and are known for providing customers with little assistance. Some have claimed that the houses are dropped off, plugged in, and left abandoned by the companies until a phone call alerts them that the party is over.

It was also reported that only nineteen states regulate the bouncing house business. There are dozens of bouncing house rental companies across Long Island, some of which have inspired action from the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety. Bouncing houses need to be anchored with stakes and weights, maintained, and supervised in order to reduce safety concerns.

News: Closer Look At The Medford Shooting

(Long Island, N.Y.) The Suffolk County Police Commissioner is calling the massacre that occurred on Father’s Day at a pharmacy in Medford beyond understandable. Seemingly no explanation can be applied to the quadruple homicide that has haunted Long Island residents after claiming the life of a would-be wife and a high school graduate. Piece by piece, new information about the case is painting a clearer picture of the Medford man responsible for inexplicable crimes.

Police and authorities received straight success when evidence collected from the crime scene was able to match fingerprints used in their suspect’s paper trail. Reports stated that two fingerprints on a piece of paper, found close to the forty-five-year-old deceased pharmacist, matched those on the suspect’s pistol license permit that dates back years. With this development in the case, the thirty-three-year-old Medford resident became the investigators’ prime suspect.

Neighbors of the man arrested for the Medford shootings claim that they are in disbelief. They have stated that the gunman seemed happy prior to the incident and that he referred to his twenty-nine-year-old wife as his best friend and soul mate. His wife is scheduled for a court appearance and has been cooperating with police, maintaining that her husband was behind the killings.

Footage of the shooter shows that he has been bruised along the face, and reports stated that the injury occurred after he violently resisted arrest during Wednesday’s raid. He was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and pleaded not guilty under the representation of a court-appointed attorney. His wife is scheduled to be arraigned today after being released from St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center.

A press conference was held yesterday in response to Wednesday’s raid of the couple’s home. The Suffolk County Police Commissioner stated that authorities on the case executed a search warrant at roughly five minutes past ten that morning. They retrieved and arrested the couple as well as numerous weapons, ammunition, and pieces of evidence.

All of what was recovered has placed the gunman at the crime scene where he shot and killed the pharmacy employees point blank. Reports stated that police and authorities on the case believe that the couple was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the arrest. Some followers of the case wonder why the wife, who drove the vehicle that took her husband to and from the pharmacy, has yet to be charged as an accomplice.

The shooter has no prior criminal record and seemed surprised that his wife blamed him for the killings. Reports stated that the couple has been married for two years, and prior to their wedding in 2009, the wife underwent several oral surgeries. One source stated that she told future brides on online posts that she had been taking different kinds of pain killers.