MEDFORD, N.Y. -- A very angry Suffolk County Police Commissioner is lashing out against a Newsday report, which states his cops might have prevented the Medford pharmacy massacre in June, if they'd seized David Laffer's licensed pistols, five months before the suspect executed four people on Father's Day
"Newsday's story recklessly trashes the reputations of officers in the Pistol Licensing Bureau, who followed each and every procedure required, under the police department's procedures and New York State and federal law," Commissioner Richard Dormer said in an updated statement released late Friday evening.
But Newsday spent months securing police reports relating to David Laffer, an unemployed, U.S. Army veteran who's pleaded guilty to killing four people, during a quest to steal thousands of painkillers from Haven Drugs pharmacy for his addicted wife.
PIX 11 got a copy of one "smoking gun" report Friday. Back on January 12, 2011, Detective Kenneth Ripp from the Suffolk Police "Identity Theft" Unit had responded to a complaint made by Laffer's mother, that her son had taken her bank card and stolen more than $8,000 from her account. Detective Ripp wrote in the report that David Laffer acknowledged on January 12th that he had a licensed rifle and pistol in the Medford house, where he lived with his mother and wife. Ripp's lawyer, Jeffrey Goldberg, told PIX 11 Friday, "Something made him suspicious this man should not have firearms."
The report indicates Detective Ripp called the Suffolk County Police "Pistol Licensing Bureau", and Ripp writes he was told the bureau would do its own follow-up. Ripp's lawyer told PIX 11 the detective wanted to confiscate the guns "and he was told he couldn't, because there was no arrest.". Laffer's mother told cops she didn't want to press charges. Just over five months later, David Laffer walked into the Haven Drugs pharmacy on June 19th, fatally shooting the pharmacist, Raymond Ferguson, 45, his assistant, Jennifer Mejia, 17, and two customers unlucky enough to stop in the store during the robbery....Jaime Taccetta, 33, and Bryon Sheffield, 71.
Commissioner Dormer criticized Newsday for giving "these grieving families the unsubstantiated and 100% false belief" that the Suffolk County Police Department could have prevented the murders. "Simply put, there was no warning," Dormer said Friday evening.
When PIX 11 went to the East Patchogue home of the youngest victim, 17 year old Jennifer Mejia--who was just days from her high school graduation when she was killed--her mother answered the door with tears in her eyes. "What can I say? My daughter's not here anymore," the still grieving mom told us. "Sorry," she said, as she struggled to compose herself.
David Laffer, who has pleaded guilty to the murders, gave a jailhouse interview to Newsday, claiming the first shot went off accidentally, when his .45 caliber pistol got caught on a strap in his backpack. He said the shot hit the pharmacist in the abdomen and he thought, "Oh, no, look what I did now,".
Laffer proceeded to execute the two arriving customers from behind, after they entered the store. He referred to 33-year old victim, Jaime Taccetta, a mom of two who was planning to get married. "I know she was dealing with limos and plans like that. I feel very remorseful over that. Very regretful."
Laffer also talked about trying to help his "sick" wife, Melinda Brady, who was desperate to get painkillers, muscle relaxants and blood pressure pills, as she waited in the getaway car. "It may sound very corny, but we got married only in 2009," Laffer told Newsday. "It was my misdirected assistance, devotion to her."
Laffer faces a sentence of life in prison, with no chance of parole, when he stands before a judge October 17th. His wife is looking at 21 to 25 years in prison. Laffer is predicting he will get killed in jail, adding "it'll serve as a punishment."
Copyright 2011 - WPIX-TV, New York
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
