Two volunteer firefighters killed in Webster, NY ambush

<p>Two volunteer firefighters were shot dead and two more injured while tackling a fire, which engulfed seven houses in the town of Webster, NY. Reportedly, the victims were answering an emergency call Monday morning, which according to police was an “apparent trap”.</p><p>The alleged gunman, William Spengler, 62, is believed to have set a house alight to lure the firefighters to the scene. As soon as the first responders to his emergency call arrived, Spengler unleashed a hail of bullets with a rifle, taking cover behind a nearby barn and acting as if he were a military sniper. Two firefighters, identified as Tomasz Kaczowka and Mike Chiapperini, died, and two others, who suffered multiple injuries, are being treated in an intensive care unit.</p><p>"These people get up in the middle of the night to go put out fires; they don't expect to be shot and killed," Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering said, describing Chiapperini as a "lifetime firefighter" and Kaczowka as a "tremendous young man."</p><p>Spengler appeared to have committed suicide at the scene, shooting himself in the head. According to police, his body was found on a nearby beach, along with “several different types of weapons.”</p><p>The gunman had served a 17-year jail sentence after being convicted of killing his 92-year-old grandmother with a hammer in her home next door in 1980. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter, served the sentence and later returned to his old neighborhood.</p><p>“We knew that he had killed his grandmother and everything," a former neighbor, Janie Brennan, told LA Times. "Everybody used to talk about it quietly: 'He’d already done his time,' things like that. People used to just be like, ‘There’s the guy who killed his grandmother with a hammer,’ and the person’s walking around."</p><p>Spengler’s mother died on Oct. 7. He lived with his sister Cheryl, who has not been accounted for.</p>

<p>Two volunteer firefighters were shot dead and two more injured while tackling a fire, which engulfed seven houses in the town of Webster, NY. Reportedly, the victims were answering an emergency call Monday morning, which according to police was an “apparent trap”.</p> <p>The alleged gunman, William Spengler, 62, is believed to have set a house alight to lure the firefighters to the scene. As soon as the first responders to his emergency call arrived, Spengler unleashed a hail of bullets with a rifle, taking cover behind a nearby barn and acting as if he were a military sniper. Two firefighters, identified as Tomasz Kaczowka and Mike Chiapperini, died, and two others, who suffered multiple injuries, are being treated in an intensive care unit.</p> <p>"These people get up in the middle of the night to go put out fires; they don't expect to be shot and killed," Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering said, describing Chiapperini as a "lifetime firefighter" and Kaczowka as a "tremendous young man."</p> <p>Spengler appeared to have committed suicide at the scene, shooting himself in the head. According to police, his body was found on a nearby beach, along with “several different types of weapons.”</p> <p>The gunman had served a 17-year jail sentence after being convicted of killing his 92-year-old grandmother with a hammer in her home next door in 1980. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter, served the sentence and later returned to his old neighborhood.</p> <p>“We knew that he had killed his grandmother and everything," a former neighbor, Janie Brennan, told LA Times. "Everybody used to talk about it quietly: 'He’d already done his time,' things like that. People used to just be like, ‘There’s the guy who killed his grandmother with a hammer,’ and the person’s walking around."</p> <p>Spengler’s mother died on Oct. 7. He lived with his sister Cheryl, who has not been accounted for.</p>