Crime & Safety

UPDATED: Police Say Pharmacy Killer Caught, Wife Also Charged

Police take 33-year-old David Laffer and his wife into custody in connection with pharmacy shootings.

The manhunt for the Medford pharmacy killer is over.  

David Laffer, 33, and his wife, Melinda Brady, 29, were taken into custody Wednesday morning at their Medford home in connection with the Father's Day quadruple at Haven Drugs, police have confirmed.

Laffer faces first degree murder charges as well as a charge of resisting arrest. Brady is charged with third degree robbery and obstructing governmental administration. 

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Laffer will be held overnight at the Fifth Precinct in Patchogue and is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday at First District Court in Central Islip, police said. Brady will also be arraigned in Central Islip Thursday.  

The couple may have targeted the Medford pharmacy to help fuel Brady's addiction to prescription painkillers, according to published reports.

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A neighbor said earlier Wednesday that Laffer fit the description of the killer released by police after Sunday's shootings.

Peter Spano, 51, said he was working approximately 50 yards away, across the street from the home at the time of the arrests.

"Saw the police go in, and get the guy out in five minutes," Spano said.

He said that he had never seen the man before the arrest. Spano described the man identified as Laffer as appearing similar to a person captured in surveillance  from the pharmacy but without the beard. 

Laffer, a 1995 graduate of Patchogue-Medford High School, looked to be in physical and mental pain during the arrest, Spano said. 

A published photo from the scene shows a gaunt Laffer with a bloody face and torn gray t-shirt. 

Laffer and Brady were married in 2009 after Laffer, who worked in logistics shipping and receiving, proposed on a large screen at an Islanders hockey game, according to a wedding announcement in the New York Daily News.

Trish Bolert, who lives next door to the Laffer home, said she was shocked to hear news of the arrests. 

“He’s a nice kid and nice guy,” Bolert said of Laffer.

Another neighbor described Laffer as being withdrawn.

Brian Heaton, a former Patchogue resident and 1994 graduate of Patchogue-Medford High School now living in California, remembers Laffer from their days together as members of the school’s Air Force Jr. ROTC program.

“Back then, he was a kid like anyone else,” said Heaton, who served as the cadet commander for the school’s Air Force Junior ROTC program. “He was a nice kid and a really good cadet who loved the military.”

Heaton and Laffer were connections on Facebook, but Heaton noted that the two had not communicated with each other in quite sometime. He said the most recent post by Laffer on Laffer’s Facebook page was in November 2010, and was what Heaton termed just a generic “hello.”

Laffer's personal Facebook page lists "Springfield XD," a semi-automatic pistol, under activities and interests. 

A call to the Laffer home at 30 Pitchpine Place, just a couple miles from the murder scene on Southaven Avenue, went unanswered Wednesday.

The arrests come three days after police say Laffer walked into the pharmacy on Southaven Avenue and opened fire. Two employees–Jennifer Mejia, 17, of East Patchogue and Raymond Ferguson, 45, of Centereach–were killed along with two customers –Bryon Sheffield, 71, of Medford and Jamie Taccetta, 33, of Farmingville.

Police say Laffer took prescription drugs from the pharmacy after the quadruple homicide, which Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer has "one of the most heinous, brutal crimes" he's ever encountered.

 

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. 

Michael Sorrentino, Greg Sleter and Krystle DiNicola contributed to this story.


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