RIVERHEAD, N.Y., June 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. Army veteran has been charged with killing four people during a holdup at a New York State pharmacy and his wife with armed robbery, police said.
David Laffer and Melinda Brady were arrested Wednesday at his mother's house in Medford on Long Island, the New York Daily News reported. They were brought to the Suffolk County Police Department headquarters.
"He was doing it because he lost his job and I was sick," Brady said as she was escorted out of the building Wednesday night. "I'm sorry that he did all this."
Investigators said Brady, who is addicted to prescription painkillers, drove her husband to Haven Drugs in Medford last Sunday. Laffer allegedly shot two employees, Jennifer Mejia, 17, a clerk, and pharmacist Raymond Ferguson, 45, and two customers, Jamie Taccetta, 33, and Bryon Sheffield, 71, filled a knapsack with canisters of hydrocodone and left.
The couple were scheduled to appear in court Thursday.
Laffer proposed to Brady in 2006 by putting a message on the Jumbotron during an Islanders game at Nassau Coliseum, the New York Post said. But friends said he was on drugs during the wedding reception.
Joanne Martino, who told the Post she broke off a friendship with Brady because of her addiction, said Brady got hooked on painkillers two years ago after taking them for stomach problems.
