Two upstate New York firefighters remain hospitalized in guarded condition today, a day after they were shot in a hail of bullets that killed two other firefighters responding to a Rochester-area house fire that investigators say appears to have been set as a trap.
Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino are recovering at a hospital in Rochester following the shooting at the scene of the fire in the suburban town of Webster on Monday morning.
The dead were identified as:
- Lt. Michael Chiapperini, 43, of Webster police and West Webster Fire Department.
- Tomasz Kaczowka, 19, a volunteer with the fire department and a 911 dispatcher.
Authorities say William Spengler set a house and car ablaze, and then opened fire when the firefighters showed up. He later exchanged bullets with a police officer before killing himself.
Before Monday's incident, Spengler had attracted little attention since he got out of prison in the 1990s for killing his grandmother, authorities said.
But two months ago, Spengler's mother died, leaving the 62-year-old ex-con in a Lake Ontario house with his sister, who he "couldn't stand," a friend said.
Spengler set the car and house in his neighbourhood ablaze, luring firefighters there, and then killed two, wounded two others and injured a police officer while several homes burned around him, police said. Spengler then killed himself. His sister, Cheryl, was missing.
Gunman served 17 years for killing grandmother
About 100 people attended an impromptu memorial vigil Monday evening in Webster. Dozens of bouquets were left at the fire station, along with a handwritten sign that said, "Thanks for protecting us. RIP."
Spengler, had been living in the home in Webster since his parole in 1998. He had served 17 years in prison after the beating death of his 92-year-old grandmother in 1980, for which he had originally been charged with murder but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter. His mother, Arline, died in October.
Lt. Michael Chiapperini, of both the Webster police and volunteer fire departments, has been identified as one of the firefighters killed Monday. (Webster Police Department)
On Monday, Spengler fired at the four firefighters when they arrived shortly after 5:30 a.m. ET at the scene of the fire, town police Chief Gerald Pickering said. The first police officer who arrived chased the gunman and exchanged shots.
Spengler lay in wait outdoors for the firefighters' arrival, then opened fire probably with a rifle and from atop an earthen berm, Pickering said. "It does appear it was a trap," he said.
Authorities used an armoured vehicle to help residents flee dozens of homes on the shore of Lake Ontario a day before Christmas. Police restricted access to the neighbourhood, and officials said it was unclear whether there were other bodies in the seven houses left to burn.
Authorities said Spengler hadn't done anything to bring himself to their attention since his parole. As a convicted felon, he wasn't allowed to possess weapons. Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley said Spengler led a very quiet life after he got out of prison.
A friend said Spengler hated his sister. Roger Vercruysse lived next door to Spengler and recalled a man who doted on his mother, whose obituary suggested contributions to the West Webster Fire Department.
"He loved his mama to death," said Vercruysse, who last saw his friend about six months ago.
Vercruysse also said Spengler "couldn't stand his sister" and "stayed on one side of the house and she stayed on the other."
The West Webster Fire District learned of the fire early Monday after a report of a car and house on fire on Lake Road, on a narrow peninsula where Irondequoit Bay meets Lake Ontario, Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn said.
Police officer 'saved many lives'
The fire appeared from a distance as a pulsating ball of flame glowing against the early morning sky, flames licking into treetops and reflecting on the water, with huge bursts of smoke billowing away in a brisk wind.
Emergency radio communications capture someone saying he "could see the muzzle flash coming at me" as Spengler carried out his ambush. The audio posted on the website RadioReference.com has someone reporting "firefighters are down" and saying "got to be rifle or shotgun — high-powered ... semi or fully auto."
Two of the firefighters arrived on a fire engine and two in their own vehicles, Pickering said. After Spengler fired, one of the wounded men fled, but the other three couldn't because of flying gunfire.
The police officer who exchanged gunfire with Spengler "in all likelihood saved many lives," Pickering said.
A police armoured vehicle was used to recover two men, and eventually it removed 33 people from nearby homes, the police chief said. The gunfire initially kept firefighters from battling the blazes.
Pickering described Chiapperini as a "lifetime firefighter" with nearly 20 years in the department, and he called Kaczowka a "tremendous young man."
Kaczowka's brother, reached at the family home Monday night, said he didn't want to talk.
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