It was a Father's Day that turned into a scene of unimaginable violence at the Haven Drugs pharmacy in Medford, New York. On June 19, 2011, Raymond Ferguson, a 45-year-old male pharmacist from Centereach, was working a shift he had picked up as a favor to his boss. It was a decision that placed him in the path of a desperate man whose actions would soon devastate multiple families.
That Sunday morning, a man named David Laffer entered the pharmacy with the intention of robbing it for
prescription painkillers to feed his and his wife's addiction. Inside the store, Laffer, armed with a. 45 caliber handgun, fatally shot Ferguson and a 17-year-old employee, Jennifer Mejia. He then proceeded to execute two customers who entered the pharmacy during the robbery, 71-year-old Bryon Sheffield and 33-year-old Jaime Taccetta. The victims reportedly offered no resistance. After stealing a large quantity of hydrocodone pills, Laffer fled the scene, driven by his wife, Melinda Brady, who acted as the getaway driver.
The investigation quickly led authorities to David Laffer and Melinda Brady. Laffer, 33 at the time, was arrested and subsequently pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His wife, Melinda Brady, for her role in planning the robbery and driving the getaway car, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The tragic event, which became known as the Medford pharmacy massacre, left the community in shock and mourning for the four innocent lives lost. Friends and family remembered Raymond Ferguson as a kind and hardworking man with a '1,000-watt smile' who had graduated from New York University and St. John's University. He was the only child of immigrant parents and had been married for a decade.
