Death Penalty Decision Pending for Pharmacy Professor Murder

A North Carolina District Attorney will announce next week whether he will pursue the death penalty against 2 men charged with beating a University of North Carolina (UNC) Eshelman School of Pharmacy professor to death.

Derick Davis II, 23, of Durham, and Troy Arrington Jr., 27, of Chapel Hill, both face first-degree murder and robbery charges in the fatal July 2014 beating of Feng Liu, a UNC research professor, The Herald Sun Reports. They are scheduled to appear in court on November 12, 2014.

The suspects allegedly beat Liu with a landscape stone at 1 p.m. on July 23, 2014, as the professor was walking near the UNC campus. Liu’s wallet and 4 credit cards were also stolen when he was killed.

Both suspects had recently been released from jail when the incident occurred. They remain in Orange County Jail in Hillsborough without bond.

A suspect who attempted to enter pharmacies through the drive-thru window in Mitchell and Bedford, Indiana, was successful in 1 of the attempts, but was thwarted by the pharmacy’s alarm system.

The suspect, who police believe is the same individual, first broke the drive-thru window at Medicine Plus in Bedford on November 2, 2014, but did not enter the pharmacy, WBIW reports. Shortly after the incident, Mitchell Police received a report about an alarm at CVS Pharmacy and determined that a suspect entered the location through the drive-thru window, as well.

Police believe the store’s alarm scared the suspect into fleeing. Nothing was taken from the pharmacy.

In Rochester, New York, police are pursuing a white male who attempted to rob a Walgreens pharmacy on November 3, 2014.

According to Fosters Daily Democrat, the man allegedly entered the store around 5:06 a.m. and demanded prescription drugs from the pharmacist. He fled on foot after being denied the drugs. No weapons were used, and no one was injured during the incident.

At a different Walgreens in Springfield, Ohio, police are investigating a break-in and medication theft that occurred on the early morning of November 3, 2014.

Stolen items include medications and other products from the pharmacy department, The Springfield News-Sun reports. Police responded after receiving a report about someone leaving the store.