CVS worker Eddy Cine Jr. stabbed to death in Christmas Day robbery

RIVERHEAD, NY – Eddy Cine Jr., a 23-year-old aspiring laptop technician, volunteered on Christmas Day to interchange a co-worker at his job as a CVS clerk in Lindenhurst, New York.

An armed robber stabbed him to loss of life minutes earlier than the tip of his shift, round 7 p.m., Suffolk County police mentioned.

Now his suspected killer, a 43-year-old ex-con named John Pilaccio, of Lindenhurst, faces a first-degree homicide cost — a extra severe cost than suspected killer Luigi Mangione in New York Metropolis.

“He took a Gatorade,” Suffolk County District Legal professional Ray Tierney mentioned at a information briefing after the alleged killer’s indictment Wednesday. “Based on the statements after the arrest, the motivation was theft.”

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John Pilaccio in Choose Karen Wilitus’ courtroom at Suffolk County Court docket in Riverhead, the place he was charged on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, for allegedly stabbing CVS worker Eddy Cine Jr. to loss of life. (James Carbone/Newsday through Pool)

An unprovoked Pilaccio allegedly demanded cash and stabbed Cine within the chest with a knife, then jumped over-the-counter, stabbed him once more and finally fled, Tierney’s workplace mentioned.

He allegedly instructed investigators he had $25,000 in bank card debt.

He additionally had a violent prison document, together with an assault on an iron band 20 years in the past, and had been on parole a while earlier than the homicide, Tierney mentioned.

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John Pilaccio was arrested a day after the homicide and had initially been arrested on a cost of second-degree homicide. (James Carbone/Newsday through Pool)

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“A number of the legal guidelines which were handed have actually turned our parole system right into a joke,” he instructed reporters, highlighting a change that might forestall parole officers from re-incarcerating their parolees for failing to adjust to the phrases of their launch.

“If that is the case, why is there a parole situation?” he mentioned.

Police arrived inside minutes and offered first assist earlier than an ambulance rushed Cine to hospital, the place he was pronounced useless from his accidents.

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The Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Workplace listed his trigger and method of loss of life as murder from sharp wounds to each his head and chest.

An undated household photograph of Eddy Cine Jr., the 23-year-old CVS clerk killed in a Christmas Day theft. (Cine Familie/GoFundMe)

County authorities additionally criticized CVS for its dealing with of surveillance video of the incident, which they mentioned was not shared in a well timed method. Tierney warned that if the proof shouldn’t be voluntarily turned over, his workplace can and can search search warrants.

A CVS spokesperson thanked Suffolk police for his or her fast response and mentioned the corporate offered preliminary surveillance video on the night time of the incident and allowed officers to view it from inside the shop. The corporate offered further photographs the following morning.

“We’re devastated by the tragic stabbing that occurred at our retailer on East Montauk Freeway on Christmas Eve,” the spokesperson mentioned. “Edeedson Cine was a valued member of the shop staff, recognized for his sturdy work ethic. Throughout his time at CVS, he was a hardworking and devoted worker and his loss is felt by all of us. Our ideas are with Edeedson’s household, buddies and colleagues at this tough time.”

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John Paliccio, 43, pictured in a reserving photograph taken on the Suffolk County Jail. (Suffolk County Sheriff’s Workplace)

Cine was certainly one of 4 siblings and grew up in a close-knit household from West Babylon, in response to a web based obituary. He had attended Hunter Enterprise College and hobbies included cooking and music. He performed drums and was a member of youth and kids’s choirs.

Tierney described him as a “outstanding younger man” and an asset to the group. The Hunter Enterprise College, the place he had studied to change into a pc technician, revealed that his father, Ed Cine Sr., is an teacher there.

“Ed, we stand behind you,” the college mentioned in an announcement. “Our hearts, ideas and prayers are with your entire Cine household.”

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A makeshift memorial is seen outdoors the CVS Pharmacy in Lindenhurst, New York, Wednesday, January 7, 2026. The shop is the scene of the stabbing loss of life of Eddy Cine Jr. on Christmas Day. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox Information Digital)

Pilaccio was arrested a day after the homicide and initially arrested on a cost of second-degree homicide – which is the standard cost for first-degree homicide in New York State. Nevertheless, Tierney mentioned that underneath state regulation, committing a homicide in furtherance of a theft warrants the improved cost of first-degree homicide, which carries a penalty of life in jail with out parole.

Within the Mangione case, Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg’s workplace had sought to cost the accused killer with first-degree homicide, claiming the killing was an act of terror. Nevertheless, a metropolis choose dismissed the highest cost and left the second-degree homicide cost in place.

The utmost sentence for second-degree homicide in New York does embrace an opportunity for parole.

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Greg Rogers, a former FBI agent, lawyer and prison justice professor at Utah Valley College, beforehand instructed Fox Information Digital that he believes the choose “made a severe error” in his resolution to drop the highest cost in opposition to Mangione.

“They charged terrorism as a result of they’re mainly satisfied they’ll show it,” he mentioned. “Terrorism statutes are, and this isn’t a very simplistic view, for those who commit a homicide in furtherance of a political motive, which he’s alleged to have performed, that meets that statute.”

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As for Pilaccio, he’s being held with out bail on the Suffolk County Jail in Riverhead. He’s due again in courtroom on February 23.

His lawyer didn’t return a name searching for remark.