2 workers, 2 patrons shot to death at NY pharmacy

[RamboLiberal]

MEDFORD, N.Y. — A gunman shot four people inside a pharmacy in a New York suburb Sunday morning, killing everyone inside the store in what police said looked like a robbery gone wrong.

The massacre happened at about 10:20 a.m. inside a family-owned pharmacy in a small cluster of medical offices in Medford, a middle-class hamlet on Long Island about 60 miles east of New York City.

Police rushed to the scene after getting a 911 call from someone in the pharmacy's parking lot. When they arrived, they found two employees and two customers dead, said Suffolk County Police Department's Chief of Detectives, Dominick Varrone. No one inside the shop survived.

The pharmacy, Haven Drugs, had opened for business at 10 a.m., and Varrone said investigators' initial belief was that a single gunman was responsible for the bloodbath, and that the motive was robbery. Just how the shooting unfolded, and why, were unclear, he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43456381/ns/us_news/

Yet Wahlgreen's fired a worker who defended his store & coworkers & patrons.

[ileus]

1. Sorry we're out of schedule 2's...

[oneshooter]

2. If you just do what they say, and give them what they want.

Then nobody gets hurt.

Yea.......right. :sarcasm:

[sharesunited]

3. Guns and ammo in the hands of the public is a big mistake.

[customerserviceguy]

4. In the hands of a criminal, you're right

If one of the two customers shot dead had been armed, perhaps it would have gone the other way. Even if the thief had been only wounded, he might have been stopped from pulling this shit again.

No doubt he's going to try.

[Starboard Tack]

5. Which one would you have armed?

The 33 year old woman or the 71 year old guy? Do you seriously believe the solution to gun violence is to arm at least 50% of the populace?

[customerserviceguy]

6. Ideally, both

Two chances of stopping a criminal who is desperate enough to kill anyone in his path. And I strongly suspect he will do so again.

[Straw Man]

8. Either or both.

Which one would you have armed?

The 33 year old woman or the 71 year old guy? Do you seriously believe the solution to gun violence is to arm at least 50% of the populace?

I know people fitting both descriptions who shoot and carry firearms. Surely you're not going sexist/ageist on us here, are you?

The solution to this gun violence would have been to arm more than 0% of the people in that store. If it saves one life ...

[TheWraith]

12. Reminds me of a story I heard awhile back, old guy thwarting a robbery.

He was in like his mid to late 70s if I recall, and habitually wore a pistol on his belt--a Colt .45 SAA that was probably old when he was a kid. Seriously. He ended up breaking up an attempted robbery of the convenience store he visited every morning for coffee; the robber had come in, demanded cash, shot the owner... the old man, who I guess was assumed to not be a threat, pulled out his revolver and shot the robber in the gut. Both the robber and the store owner recovered. I believe this was in Virginia.

[gejohnston]

19. I read a story like that too but it was a Ruger Vaquero n/t

[TheWraith]

63. Hmm. I suppose I might be remembering the revolver wrong.

I distinctly recall that it was a single-action .45, because I found the image of a 70-something guy with an .45 single action kind of funny. Could be I'm mentally substituting the original Colt.

[gejohnston]

9. do you care about the other

80 percent of all violent crime?

[rl6214]

13. What are you, anti woman or anti elderly?

[Scout]

14. great idea! arm only the women and the elderly!

since they are the ones so often mentioned here in this forum as being in dire NEED of a gun to protect them from the goblins (who are most often young, and most often men).

NO GUNS FOR MEN between the ages of 18 and 65!

ETA: closing paren

[Straw Man]

15. And the rest?

Settle it "in a manly fashion," Marquess of Queensbury style?

Ludicrous. But you knew that, right? You were just trying to be funny.

[TPaine7]

23. And what will you pack? n/t

[Scout]

27. i don't n/t

[oneshooter]

28. Loving Wife and I would CC out usual. 45's, Hers a Colt Commander, and a SIG 220 for myself.

[Glassunion]

16. My 31y/o wife carries. In a situation like that, I would have liked for her to be carrying.

Period.

[right2bfree]

48. Anyone can become a criminal. We dont need to arm potential criminals, as many gun

owners have proven to be over the years.

No gun would often mean=No crime.

[hack89]

54. How do you plan to deal with all those pre-rapists or pre-drunk drivers?

or do you view guns as the only threat to society?

[TheWraith]

64. Right, because no 90 pound woman ever gets raped by a 250 pound man, unless he has a gun.

No group of five burly guys ever surrounds someone walking down the street and mugs them, unless the perps have a gun.

No elderly person ever gets taken advantage of, beaten or robbed, without the perp having a gun first.

Instead, we should take the right-wing tack: everyone is a potential threat, none of the "little people" can be trusted to do the right thing, just let things sort themselves out, while the cops protect the rich suburbs.

:sarcasm:

It's amazing to see people on here seriously advocating that the best thing is preemptive controls, treating average citizens if they were criminals, the Bush terror list, and other fashion accessories of a police state.

[Bold Lib]

69. Yeah, that prior restrain thing has worked so well in the past.

[gejohnston]

70. more often it means

no gun equals a crime

[rl6214]

7. NO

No guns and ammo (like in NY) in the hands of the public is a big mistake.

Fixed it for ya

[Union Scribe]

11. So get to work on a fuckin time machine

since that's the only way your vision is going to come to pass.

[Logical]

17. +1000.......this is what they do not seem to get. n-t

[ergot]

18. There are only 2 options: guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens and criminals, or

in the hands of criminals only. It's pretty clear which scenario you prefer (and that's a genuine mystery.)

[Remmah2]

21. When the public is not allowed to own firearms it will be known as a police state.

What a wonderful world it will be.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

24. Guns and ammo in the hands of the public is a human right.

FTFY :patriot:

[right2bfree]

50. Really? Funny but most of the world doesnt think so. What makes you special?

huh?

[PavePusher]

53. "Most of the world" doesn't think much of most of the rights we hold here.

I don't think you want to use that criteria....

[right2bfree]

56. really? then your rights are not set in stone including having guns, are they?

[petronius]

57. The rights protected in the BoR are the core foundational principles

of our society - whether other nations value them as we do is irrelevant, really, and not a reason to lightly set them aside...

[TheWraith]

65. By that "logic," since women can't vote in many countries, they have no such right.

And there's no right to free speech, either.

You really think that's a good argument?

[right2bfree]

66. most all countries do not allow gun proliferation. the US does. its no right at all

[TheWraith]

68. Many countries do not allow women to vote. Does that mean women have no right to vote?

Yes or no answer, please.

And the same question for gay rights, since most countries do not extend rights to gay folk.

Either you believe that what "most countries" do is a valid measurement of what rights people have, or you're simply using an appeal to popularity.

[PavePusher]

67. Only if you think we should regulate our affairs by the approval of other nations.

That's not gonna work, at least this week.

But your willingness to bow to external disapproval is noted for future reference.

Edit: I notice your profile is unavailable. Where do you live?

[rl6214]

58. Who cares what "most of the world" thinks?

We don't play by their rules, we play by our own.

[gejohnston]

71. So?

Did you take a world wide poll? Do other countries give a shit what other countries think? Japan does not give a rats ass what the rest of the world thinks of Whaling.

[mvccd1000]

10. "Just give them what they want and they won't hurt you."

"Just give them what they want and they won't hurt you."

Yeah, right.

"Call 911 and let the police handle it."

Yeah, right.

"Is someone's life worth a piece of property?"

To a criminal, the answer may be yes. Mine's not, so I'll defend it accordingly.



The sad thing is, in New York the business owner may have had enough pull to get a CCW permit, as he had "a valid need for protection." The poor working stiff and customers, however, obviously had nothing worth protecting (in the opinion of the state).




Contrast that with this story published on CNN two weeks ago:

"My technician came back and showed me the note that said, 'Give me your OxyContin. I have a gun,' " Donohue said.

Instead of handing over the drugs, Donohue unholstered the Glock 19 handgun he wore beneath his white lab coat and sprinted to the front of the small pharmacy.

The pharmacist pointed the firearm loaded with 15 hollow-point rounds at the head of the hooded man.

"Down!" Donohue yelled.

The would-be robber dashed out the door, with the pistol-packing pharmacist giving chase. Surveillance video cameras captured the entire incident.

The man got away, only to be arrested that day. He later pleaded guilty to attempting to rob Donohue's store and to robbing another drugstore.

Which outcome would YOU rather see?

[RamboLiberal]

20. More on the story

The heartbroken sister of a teenage pharmacy worker murdered in a Long Island robbery, broke down in tears Monday as she visited the scene of the crime.

The terrifying daylight attack ended with the gunman fatally shooting store employees Raymond Ferguson, 45, and Mejia, and customers Bryon Sheffield, 71, and Jaime Taccetta, 33.

Police say the suspect then made off with prescription drugs and remains at large.

Police described the suspect as a thin white man, about 5-feet-8, with short, dark hair. He was wearing a white baseball hat, sunglasses, a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/06/20/2011-06-20_woman_who_avoided_bloodbath_after_taking_day_off_mourns_sister_killed_at_long_is.html

[slackmaster]

22. Junkie.

Bummer. Most of them just rob and don't murder people.

[benEzra]

25. Might not be.

The murderer might have robbed the pharmacy to sell the drugs, rather than use them. (n/t)

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

26. What really matters:

In the Libertarian sense, it doesn't matter if someone carries without a license and otherwise commits no crime.

If you look at gun control as a means to reducing violent crime, as long as basic rights are preserved, there is no problem.

Criminals, like everyone in the world economy, operate subject to supply and demand. Laws will not change that. If there was a means to, for certain, identify all killers once they have killed, murder would still occur. Even with certain knowledge of apprehension, conviction and the enforcement of the death penalty, some murders would still murder. Similarly, some rapists would still rape. Some laws can change the shape of the supply or demand curves but fundamentally economic principles determine behavior.

It is the aspect of personal freedom known as self defense (lethal if need be) that brings to the table a more immediate death and the only viable means of stopping this type of violence. I am against capital punishment but in favor of lethal self defense when appropriate.

[Hoyt]

29. Apparently they caught the guy -- "clean police record," "proficient with firearms."

[RamboLiberal]

30. Shows no remorse

Mean looking SOB!


John Roca/NewsSuffolk County detectives take David Laffer from the 5th Precinct, in Patachogue.

David Laffer let his .45-caliber handgun do the talking for him when he massacred four people in a Long Island pharmacy, a prosecutor said Thursday.

"He did not announce a robbery," John Collins, a Suffolk County prosecutor, said at Laffer's arraignment. "He simply shot first."

-----

Laffer murdered pharmacist Raymond Ferguson, 45, first, firing twice, Collins said. Then he killed 17-year-old clerk Jennifer Mejia with two more shots, he said.

Then he ambushed two customers, killing Taccetta, 35, and Bryon Sheffield, 71, Collins said.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/06/23/2011-06-23_david_laffer_accused_gunman_in_long_island_pharmacy_massacre_shows_no_remorse_sa.html#ixzz1Q91lvc6V

[gejohnston]

31. show me the link

[oneshooter]

32. He won't, because he can;t. Aint that right. n/t

[Hoyt]

34. Wooo, it's even worse than I posted Oneshooter. Here are links. Read about his permit & love of guns

You guys can even read up on his favorite gun.

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/drug-store-murders-suspect-who-is-david-laffer-20110622

http://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/david-laffer-a-fan-of-military-islanders-1.2977002

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1614210632

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_localnyc/20110623/ts_yblog_localnyc/accused-pharmacy-killer-david-laffer-did-this-because-i-was-sick-wife-melinda-brady-says

http://crimesceneusa.blogspot.com/2011/06/li-pharmacy-david-laffer-was-long-time.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/23/david-laffer-arrested_n_882785.html

www.dailymail.co.uk

[friendly_iconoclast]

35. When statistics don't support you, go for the lurid anecdote.

"If it bleeds, it leads!"

[Hoyt]

36. Don't need any stats. The killer was a permitted, gunner who likes laser sights and crap.

That's a fact, but you guys keep implying it just doesn't happen . . . . . .It does happen.

You guys might not ever do anything like that, but other gunners do. At what point do we say, "that's enough?"

[Straw Man]

37. No stinkin' stats?

That's a fact, but you guys keep implying it just doesn't happen . . . . . .It does happen.

Please show me where anyone said "it just doesn't happen." Largely because they are pre-screened through background checks, the crime rate among permit holders is lower than that of the general public. That's a statistic.

You guys might not ever do anything like that, but other gunners do. At what point do we say, "that's enough?"

At one point do you say WHAT is enough? Are you calling for an outright ban on firearms ownership? Or on carry permits? What do you propose that would have prevented this tragedy? Please be concrete and specific.

[friendly_iconoclast]

38. Statistics about carry permit holders are problematic for the prohibitionist cause

The state of Florida, for example, has issued more than 2 million handgun permits since 1987. In those 24 years, less than

300 of those permits have been revoked for firearms-related reasons.


If I were on the other side of the issue, I'd certainly downplay the value of statistics...

[Hoyt]

39. I doubt Laffer's permit will be REVOKED, because he ain't gonna have a chance to carry a gun.

Further, I will bet that the many more folks who could qualify for a permit -- but choose not to walk around with a gun in their pants -- committed no more crimes than those needing guns to walk down the street. 85% of the population, who are not felons and don't pack, are just as law abiding as those who can't be separated from their guns. So we just keep pumping the things.

[gejohnston]

40. This is New York, most likely the permit was for possessing, not carrying

[Straw Man]

43. Outside of NYC, a permit is to possess AND carry. However ...

... many counties place additional restrictions on carry. This happened in Suffolk County, which issues mostly "Sportsman" permits: target and hunting only. You need to be on your way to or from either one of those activities or you will be considered to be carrying "outside your restrictions," and your permit will be revoked.

[friendly_iconoclast]

42. So we need to restrict 89%+ of the population because a minority won't behave?

Can we say 'prior restraint' or 'precrime"?

[Blown330]

51. Fortunately for the rest of us...

...your statistics are worth precisely squat. Already proven that CCW permit holders are a safer and less likely to commit any crime than the rest of the population. Your 85% must have been pulled from the same place that keeps your head warm.

[rl6214]

60. Most concealed carry holders don't

"walk around with a gun in their pants", that's your thing.

[rl6214]

59. Drugs will make anyone do anything

If you drug users would give it up, there would be no drug violence so it is your fault.

[right2bfree]

49. What a nutcase. We need to tighten up the national gun laws in 2013...or sooner.

This stuff has GOT to stop!!

[friendly_iconoclast]

52. Stop what, exactly? Sociopathology or murderous armed robberies?

Hate to break this to you, but murder and armed robbery existed long before firearms were ever developed.

And the rates of both crimes in the US are at historic lows- a fact that some just can't seem to grasp...

[hack89]

55. You are fighting an imaginary epidemic of gun violence.

By 2013 the murder rate will be lower without any laws being tightened. Don't you understand that you have never been safer - you have to go back 50 years to find lower crime and murder rates.

[rl6214]

61. NO, it's the drug usage

You people need to stop supplying the drug dealers with customers and their won't be a problem.

[eqfan592]

72. It does have to stop.

Too bad your plan will do exactly jack shit to stop it. Maybe someday when people like you finally wake up to that realization we'll actually be able to set about the business of working on solving the REAL problems behind crime.

[Hoyt]

41. Oneshooter, hope you had chance to verify my comments. Isn't Springfield XD a favorite here?

[Straw Man]

44. What's your point, Hoyt?

Isn't Springfield XD a favorite here?

That every XD owner is just one bad day away from mass murder? Loughner used a Glock -- do we have to worry about the 60% of US cops that carry one of those?

[rl6214]

62. I've got a Springfield XD45 just like the one the shooter used

It's never jumped up and gone on a murderous spree. Sorry to break that to you.

You gonna give the XD a bad name like the Glock?

[eqfan592]

73. Got an XD 9mm here.

And not once has it magically flown to a store to start killing people. But hey, nice try, Hoyt. Any other disgusting insinuations you'd care to make about your fellow DU'ers?

[Katya Mullethov]

33. "proficient with firearms."

But extremely bad at not falling down .
http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-504083_162-10008316.html?tag=contentAux

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Straw Man]

46. Do you have a cell phone, a driver's license, and a knife?

Well, then, you're just a ticking time bomb:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara_massacre

[friendly_iconoclast]

47. Bigotry, it's what's for dinner! n/t