4 dead in 'horrible' N.Y. pharmacy robbery

MEDFORD, N.Y., June 20 (UPI) -- Four people were shot and killed at a Medford, N.Y., pharmacy in a robbery described by a detective as a "a vicious horrible crime."

The robber made off with prescription drugs in the Sunday holdup at Haven Drugs, police said in a New York Daily News report Monday.

Among the dead was employee Jennifer Mejia, 18, of East Patchogue, who would have graduated from Bellport High School Thursday. She and her sister were scheduled to work at the pharmacy Sunday but her sister changed her mind and spent Father's Day at home.

Also killed were pharmacist Raymond Ferguson, 45, and two customers, Bryon Sheffield, 71, of Medford, and a 33-year-old woman, Jaime Taccetta of Farmingville.

The victims were slain shortly after the pharmacy in the Long Island community opened.

The gunman was described as a thin white male, about 5-feet-8, with short, dark hair. He wore sunglasses, a dark hooded sweater, bluejeans and a white baseball cap.

"This is a vicious, horrible crime," said Suffolk County Police Chief of Detectives Dominick Varrone.

Mejia was excited about graduation and had modeled her prom dress for her family the day before she was killed.

"This morning she told me, 'Happy Father's Day.' She was in a hurry to go to work," said Rene Mejia, an immigrant from El Salvador. "I held her and said, 'It's OK ... I feel better because I held her."