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Relatives, Friends Of Medford Pharmacy Massacre Victims Mark 1 Year Since Shootings

MEDFORD, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- One year ago, four people were shot and killed by a man trying to steal prescription drugs from a pharmacy in Medford. Today, friends and family of those victims came together to remember the lives that tragically ended in an instant.

At 10:21 a.m. in front of a makeshift memorial outside Haven Drugs, Jamie Taccetta's family lit candles in memory of the victims.

1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reports

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It was at that time on June 19, 2011 that David Laffer walked into the pharmacy and executed Jamie Taccetta, a 33-year-old mother of two, and three others in what prosecutors called the most cold-blooded robbery-homicide in Suffolk County history.

WCBS 880's Sophia Hall On The Story

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"I just miss her so much," said Taccetta's mother Pat Taccetta. "This shouldn't have happened."

PHOTOS: Medford Pharmacy Massacre

"A lot has happened and it's unreal to believe it's a year already," said her brother Dan Taccetta. "I think about it every day."

Also killed was 45-year-old pharmacist Raymond Ferguson, 17-year-old store clerk Jennifer Mejia and 71-year-old Bryon Sheffield, who was picking up medication for his wife.

"I went to the cemetery but never here," said Mejia's friend Ana Rangel, who brought flowers to Haven Drugs on Tuesday. "I just thought I needed to be here on this day."

Laffer and his wife, Melinda Brady, were both arrested days later and eventually both pleaded guilty in September.

Laffer pleaded guilty to all charges of committing first-degree murder and robbing the pharmacy of thousands of prescription pills.

He was sentenced to five consecutive life terms for the deaths of each of the victims plus an umbrella charge for multiple murders.

Brady was sentenced to 25 years in prison after she admitted to helping plan the robbery and driving the getaway car, but claimed she didn't know the plan would involve killing.

Since then, pharmacists around the Tri-state area have put in extra security and lawmakers in Albany have passed prescription tracking legislation to prevent doctor shopping.

"I hope they pass this law with the legislator so no other family will have to go through this," said Pat Taccetta.

Dan Taccetta said he's grateful that steps are being taken to prevent crimes like these from happening again, but said he wished these new measures had been in place one year ago.

"I love my sister and I miss her very much," he said. "Hopefully, it will prevent another death. It took four people to die in order to get this going."

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