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Who is John Pilaccio? Long Island man charged with fatally stabbing CVS employee on Christmas Day
Police arrested John Pilaccio after a CVS employee was fatally stabbed on Christmas Day in Lindenhurst, Long Island.
A man has been arrested after a 23-year-old CVS employee was fatally stabbed on Christmas Day at a store in Lindenhurst, Long Island, prompting a rapid police response and investigation. John Pilaccio was arrested shortly after the murder, which took place just before 7 pm local time at the CVS on East Montauk Highway, according to the New York Times.
The victim, Edeedson “Eddy” Ciné Jr., was working a holiday shift when he was stabbed in the chest. Emergency responders transported Ciné to Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip, where he was pronounced dead.
Police described the suspect as a man in his 40s who fled the scene on foot following the attack. Suffolk County authorities said that surveillance footage from both inside and outside the store helped identify a person of interest. However, delays in receiving the internal video from CVS initially hampered the early stages of the investigation.
Commissioner Kevin Catalina publicly criticized CVS corporate for not providing the footage promptly, calling the delay “shocking and appalling”, reported NYT. CVS later said the footage was emailed after being formatted according to police requirements.
Who is John Pilaccio?
Pilaccio, 43, is a Lindenhurst resident who lives roughly half a mile from the CVS where the fatal stabbing occurred, as per New York Post. Hours after the attack, he was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
Pilaccio is being held at the Suffolk County Police Department’s Third Precinct pending arraignment and is scheduled to appear in court on Saturday at the First District Court in Central Islip.
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Authorities have not confirmed whether he and Ciné knew each other prior to the incident. According to the New York Post, the arrest followed an exhaustive search by police after Ciné was found fatally injured and Pilaccio fled the store.
The arrest came after Commissioner Catalina publicly called out CVS for delaying access to store surveillance video, which investigators said hampered the early investigation. CVS later provided the requested footage, explaining that formatting requirements caused the delay.
