Edeedson Cine spent a warm Christmas morning giving presents to his parents and washing the family’s breakfast dishes before going to work a last-minute shift at CVS — where he was ruthlessly stabbed to death just before closing.
Cine, 23, wasn’t supposed to work the holiday but had stepped in to cover one of his coworkers, his grieving dad said in his first public comments on the tragic slaying.
“My son normally helps out,” Edeedson Cine, Sr. told The Post Saturday.
“He was the kind of person who would step in front of a bullet for anyone. He would volunteer for the tough assignments. He was simple, and I loved that about my son.
“He was always willing to help. If he can make things better for you, he will.”
Cine was nearing the end of the Christmas Day shift when 43-year-old John Pilaccio allegedly stabbed him in the chest, police said.
The young employee, who had been working at the Lindenhurst store for 10 months, was rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, where he was declared dead.
Pilaccio fled, but was arrested Friday and charged with second-degree murder.
The alleged brute appeared stonefaced during his Saturday morning arraignment in Suffolk County Court.
Wearing a gray and blue sweatshirt and with tousled hair, Pilaccio remained silent as prosecutors accused him of killing the young CVS employee.
Officials have so far offered few details on what could have triggered the attack or said whether the suspect and victim knew each other prior to the stabbing, but theorized Pilaccio was a customer with bad intentions.
“Based on the person of interest and his background, I can only assume he was in the store for nefarious reasons, and it’s possible their confrontation was a result of that,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said at a Friday news conference.
The cop boss also slammed CVS for failing to turn over surveillance footage within an 18-hour timeframe, which they said “hampered our ability to make an arrest.”
CVS confirmed to The Post it had eventually handed over the footage, but would not say whether it would pay for the funeral services for its young employee who was killed on the job.
“Our teams worked through the night to pull and package hours of video in the specific manner they asked for,” a spokesperson told The Post.
“We’ve been in contact with the colleague’s family and are determining the best way to support them,” they added.
In his final hours, Cine spent a cozy Christmas morning with his family in their West Babylon home, where he proudly gifted his parents presents with the cash he earned working for the pharmacy giant and enjoyed breakfast with his three siblings.
“We have a very tight family. We are very close. We do a lot together. He was loved and he loved also,” Cine Sr. said.
“He said, ‘I’ll wash the dishes before I go to work,’ which stays with me because it’s just something we needed someone to do. And then he kissed me and left … He left for work and he unfortunately didn’t make it home.”
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