4 shot dead in New York pharmacy

Four people were shot to death at a pharmacy on New York’s Long Island in what police said looked like a robbery gone wrong.

The gunfire erupted at about 10:20 a.m. inside Haven Drugs, a family-owned pharmacy in a small cluster of medical offices in suburban Medford, about 100 kilometers east of New York City.

Police rushed to the scene after getting a call about gunfire from a witness in the pharmacy’s parking lot.

When they arrived, they found two employees and two customers dead, said Suffolk County Police Department Chief of Detectives, Dominick Varrone.

The pharmacy had opened for business at 10 a.m., and Varrone said investigators’ initial belief was that a single gunman was responsible for the bloodbath, and that the motive was robbery.

The shooter fled the pharmacy, and no suspects were in custody.

Officials weren’t immediately releasing additional details about the shooting.

A call left for the pharmacy’s owner and chief pharmacist wasn’t immediately returned.