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Two firefighters who survived an ambush in upstate New York that killed two of their colleagues said Thursday they were "humbled and a bit overwhelmed" by well wishes in the wake of the tragedy as more details emerged of the deadly attack.
West Webster volunteer firefighters Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino, who had been in guarded condition, were upgraded to satisfactory condition on Wednesday at Rochester's Strong Memorial Hospital.
As authorities continued their investigation into the assault that William Spengler, 62, carried out on the volunteers responding to a blaze in Webster early Monday, the hospital released a statement from the survivors.
The pair said their "thoughts and prayers" were with the families of their colleagues Michael Chiapperini, 43, and Tomasz Kaczowka, 19, who were shot dead at the scene. They were also "humbled and a bit overwhelmed by the outpouring of well wishes for us and our families," the statement said.
Chiapperini was killed by a single gunshot wound, while Kaczowka died as a result of two gunshot injuries, according to autopsy results released by New York State Police on Thursday afternoon.
Spengler, who was convicted of killing his grandmother in 1980, died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, police said in a statement. He shot himself as seven houses burned around him.
'Multiple firemen down'
"We are being shot at," an unidentified voice told a 911 dispatcher in a recording aired Wednesday on NBC's TODAY. "Multiple firemen down. Multiple firemen are shot. I am shot. I think he is using an assault rifle."
Hofstetter and Scardino were shot during the chaos. One was struck by a bullet in the pelvis and the other in the chest and knee, NBCNewYork.com reported.
Police said Spengler left a three-page typewritten note saying he wanted to burn down the neighborhood and "do what I like doing best, killing people."
“He was equipped to go to war, kill innocent people," Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering told reporters Tuesday.
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle said Wednesday that the funeral for Chiapperini, who was a 20-year veteran of the Webster Police Department, will be Sunday, while a funeral Mass for Kaczowka, who graduated from high school last year, will be held in Rochester at 10 a.m. ET Monday.
John Ritter, a police officer with the nearby Greece, N.Y., police department, came across the fire while on his way to work early Monday. He stopped, waiting to see if the firefighters would direct him around the scene, when he suddenly heard a large blast and then discovered a hole in his windshield, The Rochester newspaper reported. His vehicle was struck a second time.
“At that point I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know if it was shrapnel from the fire. I sat there, I checked my body to see if I was injured -- I wasn’t -- and then I heard multiple rounds going off,” he said late Wednesday at a press conference.
He made his way over to where firefighters were trying to put out the blaze and warned them that someone was shooting. He told the newspaper his main goals were to take cover, get out of the “kill zone” and keep people from that area. Though he called his role “peripheral,” police have said he helped to protect others.
“There’s no way to defend an ambush,” said the nearly 24-year veteran of the Greece police force, who did not open fire. “I am driving to work ... I don’t have any tools of my trade with me. I don’t have body armor, I don’t have long range weapons, I don’t have my radio, I don’t have anything, and I am in a situation where someone is actively engaging me.”
Ritter said words couldn’t describe his feelings, which included survivor’s guilt. “I don’t know why I’m still here, other than there was some type of divine intervention that kept that round from penetrating through my car and hitting something else.”
Spengler had lived in the house with his sister and his mother, Arline, who died in October at 91. Arline Spengler's obituary asked that memorial donations be made to the West Webster Fireman's Association.
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A former neighbor told The Associated Press that Spengler "loved his mama to death" and that he "couldn't stand" his sister. The neighbor said he thought Spengler "went crazy" after his mother died.
Spengler, the gunman, was convicted of manslaughter in 1981 after the death of his grandmother, Rose Spengler, 92, and was paroled in 1998. He remained under parole supervision until 2006, the Democrat and Chronicle reported. Before Monday's shooting, Webster police hadn't had any run-ins with Spengler since he was paroled, they said.
Police investigating the killings said Tuesday that they had found what appeared to be human remains at the gunman's home. Authorities said they believed those were of Spengler’s 67-year-old sister, Cheryl, who lived with him.
Although Spengler couldn't legally own firearms as a convicted felon, police said he was armed with a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver, a 12-gauge pump shotgun and a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle, the same kind used in the Newtown, Conn., school massacre in mid-December. Authorities are tracing the history of the weapons and how Spengler obtained them, state police said.
At least 33 people were displaced by the fire, which engulfed at least seven homes and a motor vehicle.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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People keep saying the death penalty is wrong, inhumane, blah, blah, blah. Guess what. If the death penalty had been applied after this thing killed his grandmother there would be two firefighters and a sister still alive and a number of people would still have their homes. That simple.
Amen!
Your right in a sense but a lot of states are starting to back out of the Death Penalty...and why? Because of the cost it is cheaper to put these criminals in prison for the rest of their lives then on death row. It is not uncommon for a inmate to be on death row for over a decade and not unheard of for over 20 years, the money adds up after a while and surpasses the amount of money it would be spent to keep these losers locked up forever.
It has been conclude that since 1978 the cost of the death penalty in California has totaled over $4 billion since 1978, that is 4 times as much as it would have cost for life in prison. The cost include Pre-Trial and Trial costs (the lawyers aren't doing this for nothing, its $100's per hour) Automatic Appeals and State Habeas Corpus Petitions, Federal Habeas Corpus Petitions and then the cost of the incarceration.
It would be one thing if they were convicted one day and put them to death the next but the system is so screwed up you will never see this and death is way too good for these criminals away.
My opinion I think that they should catch these criminals tell the public they were killed and them throw them in some dark cell for the rest of their lives with just the bare basics to keep them alive and no contact with the outside world except for when the prison guards to come feed them once a day...a couple of steps back from the ADX Prison in Florence Colorado.
This man killed his own grandmother and he was released from prison? Why? After committing such a horrendous act, you would have thought they would have thrown away the key after he was locked in his cell. Maybe it's time to rethink our "justice" system...seems to me that the only ones who get "justice" are the criminals who commit these acts. If it weren't for the lax penal system, these two firefighters...and heaven knows how many more people, would be alive today.
So liberals are you happy that this man was given a second chance in society? And how has thos assault weapon ban signs working out for the citizens of New York? Oh wait let's not forget that killer 30 OZ soda.
I'm a liberal, and I'm certainly not happy this man was ever released from prison. Regardless of the charge he pled to, it was a vicious, violent crime. That alone should have kept him in prison the rest of his life. We've never let Charles Manson out, either, even though he periodically comes up for review. I support locking up the truly vicious, violent, and destructive.
Statistics show it is far cheaper to incarcerate someone for life than to keep them on death row. Are you willing to re-direct your tax dollars to incarceration instead of revenge? Becuse if you do, you can lock up a whole lot more guys for the same money.
But this country is not willing to spend money on crime prevention, nor is it willing to spend money on mental health. So we have incidents such as this one.
so how did he get a gun ? He did'nt buy it, did he steal it? maybe it was'nt real, jurks. wake up all the gun laws are worthless if someone wants a gun to kill people all they have to do is brake into your house and kill you and take your legal guns. then on to the next house. Its not protection if you dont see something comming.
wayman ramsey
Suggestions?
It is a shame when those who are out to save lives have to end up saving their own. Their safety should be paramount. The shooter should have never been released to begin with. They system once again failed. God bless the families of those killed.
On th subject of these shooting, most of these are committed by individuals who are angry and unstable. If we can keep the guns out of their hands, it would resolve 90% of what we are seeing. But the answer is not to take guns away from everyone to address the few. Both NY and Connecticut have very strict gun control laws and yet this still occurred. The answer is to get these folks out of our general population. That includes both the unstable and the criminal.
There are more certifiable insane people walking the streets than ever before and the last 40 years has seen an emphasis on the de-institutionalizationof them. That would be fine if there were adequate resources available to diagnose, treat and medicate these individuals; however, while the mental wards were being closed down, they were simply being let out on the street with no where to go for treatment. We had a mass shooting in our city by a man who quit taking his anti-depressants. He killed two policeman and multiple others in the area. He had gone to the hospital and they turned him away. Now he is in a mental ward of the corrections facility. The intent to take people out of the mental wards was good, but there are consequences when you don't offer the right solution to go with it. We are paying the cost by playing soft. Tough love is needed for our kids and for society as a whole.
Lets see if i have this straight here. He was a convicted felon who was released from prison. He couldn't legally obtain any firearm. Sounds like if we had a ban on guns this would never have happened. YEAH RIGHT. Can't we see the flaw in the logic that these liberals are trying to force down everyones throat? The penal system needs to be fixed. There needs to be tighter gun laws but law abiding citizens that own guns are NOT the problem.
Again, warning signs were there, about this nut, and no medicail records to stop him from buying guns. people had to know he was a nut, in this area. feel sorry for the firemen, suckered into an ambush, just like they are doing to our soliders in the middle east, and both carryed out by nuts.
Research Proposal by New York Parole Board:
We're going to set free a convicted murderer and see if he will murder again.
Results: Multiple homicides
Alot of the mental issues start right at home. Alot dont, they go to a doctor they get prescribed mental drugs that they even say might make it worse. You have hyper active kids that there parents cant handle and they put them on ritilan. The drug makers and the poorly trained doctors are alot of the blame. They push that crap and people fall for it. There is no magical pill cure. When you give kids ritilan and crap like that when there brain is still developing, you screw them up for life. Even tho your tryin to help. so before you trust a doctor, take the whole family in to a shrink and sort out who is really screwed up first. 90 percent will find out its them not there kids. A doctor once told my wife my kid needed ritilan. I said BS. I was 23 at the time and knew better. He was never put on it and that hyper active phase went away. Now how do you think his brain would have develped if I would have just trusted a Dr? God only knows. Adderal is just as bad. when the day comes they build up a tolerance they will seek another drug. just like alot of you have done with beer, at first to get a buzz it was 2 now its 6 or even 12. mybe beer dont get ya there fast enough so you drink 1 shot or 10. see the pattern
My wife and I want to join in with wishing these gentleman a fast recovery and thank them for their service to their community. Also our prayers for the families of the 2 men that this monster killed.
Now this is what happens when you ban guns. That twit from Great Britian wont tell you this about his beloved country
Guess this site wont let ya link an artical that proves the brit is wrong. do a search for countries with the most violent crimes. His country is number one on the list. America isnt even in the top ten
Is it so that this type of offence is largely committed by white men . If that is so why is that ? There have been cases where minorities have been involved , but mass shootings at innocent persons , is largely the white mans' preserve . Of intrest when this happens , the shooter is readily categorised as a " mental misfit". Is it that we should start paying attention , to "nerdish" white kids , white male loners , and disgruntled middle-aged white men who live with their mothers .The problem is they tend to kill persons with whom in the majority of cases , they have no grouse . Blacks on the other hand seem to take it out on those who rankle them or from whom they are seeking something . The terroist so called, has a religious beef . My view is that , the leadership , of the NRA ,which if i understand it properly , consists largely of white middle-class men , need to have their 'heads" examined based on statement attritubited to them ., the public safety hinges on the result of that examination .
Peter your so misinformed its not even funny. And you draw some out of the air conclusion. I will admit your right on some things you said. But you must not watch the real news, that comes on at 5 thru 6 every night. Its not fox or nbc. Both are biased as hell. watch your local news. Better yet if you have cable watch other stations that are local to that town. watch detroits , chicagos, new yorks or even my home town of cincinnati. hate to tell ya the majority is disgruntled blacks in these areas. And there 90 percent drug or gang related. That has nothing to do with the NRA what so ever. And no im not a member. Just a normal middle aged white guy who isnt a racist but would put a hole in somebody if they attack me or a family member. Something I hope I never have to do. Hell if I was walking down the street and seen a women being raped or a child screaming for help. I wouldnt waste my time to call the police. They wont be there quick enough. But I bet I would be thanked by the person being hurt, but sued by the criminals family. Ill take being sued anyday of the week. One last question Peter? If lets just say a person is robbing you at gun point and another is raping your wife at the same time. Wouldnt you be happy to see a person that could stop it? Or would you rather wait and hope the police comes? simple? What would you do? My point is this. Dont think The NRA are all loons because you dont agree with them. Because one day you might be happy to have one save your skin
And one last thing to the people that dont beleive in the death penalty. Go talk to the brave firefighters loved ones and tell them that it was ok to let this guy live after he beat his grandmother to death with a hammer. These 2 heros would still be alive today as well as this guys sister if they would have pulled the switch. My heart goes out to all involved and I wish the the best. I wish there was something I could do. But all I can say is sorry we the people let you down
Instead of gun control what about some common sense for the Judges and parole people involved in cases like this one. The guy kills his grandmother and they let him out of jail. No amount of gun control can prevent stupid decisions like releasing a killer back on the streets.
and we are getting more liberal judges appointed every day....wait until you see the Supreme court in 4 years..with Eric Holder sitting there.
You NRA types just don't keep up with the times. Shooting children in schools is so 80's. And Muslims are well known for killing first responders. You NRA types need to step up your game and raise the bar. Maybe you could shoot up a Children's Hospital, or a Day Care Center. I got it... You could use your big gun to slaughter children at Disneyland. I bet killing children at Disneyland as they get off the teeter-totter would be worth a lot more NRA points than just shooting them full of holes in a school somewhere. You might even get your picture in the NRA Hall of Fame.
Bambi may be on to something...both these last 2 killers were adult males living with mama. there may be a pattern here worth exploring by professionals.
I love these NRA types... Last week we couldn't ban the guns these NRA types use to slaughter children because the Mother Purchased them legally. And now we can't ban the types of guns the NRA types use to shoot firemen because the guns were purchased illegally. What comes between legal and illegal? Maybe we can ban those kinds of guns without the NRA putting up a fight.
Man these anti gun so called news station are really sucking the oppurtunity to label guns as EVIL dry. So,pathetic!
1f I need to read one more comment from another a**hole that thinks it should be legal to own an assault rifle, I amy have to track him down and steal his gun and shoot him with it. He would be dead and you know what the reason is? He bought the frigging gun. If he hadn't I could not have killed him with it, could I have? There is absolutely NO reason in the world for this gun to be sold to anyone. Sorry morons, the 'he got the gun illegally" excuse does not work in any way. If the gun is not available to anyone, it cannot be used by anyone. PERIOD! OK morons, let the bombardment of your hate rain down on me. I can take it. I am a big boy.
@ howard
so what do you think the ranchers and farmers should have to protect themselves from the drug cartels on the borders, that are using fully automatic ak-47s?
i don't know should semi automatic weapons be banned? i still am not sure about that, since it seems our government refuses to take the steps needed to protect law abiding citizens. we see time and again law breakers getting paroled, not getting stiff sentences for being a danger to our society. here is what i feel , if we had laws on the books that truely protected our citizens, then i would be willing to see more gun contol.
we need to stiff no holds barred laws against criminals. you commit a crime that proves you are a danger to society then you get the death penalty. no more paroles, no more slaps on the wrist law enforcement. crimes that are a danger to society should range from murder , to rape , to child abuse etc. you want to take guns away then you need to make and enforce laws that protect the populace.
They should use nuclear weapons. Isn't that right you NRA nut!
@ oicy
i do not belong to the NRA. i also see you did not really read my post. i am for more gun control, i said that right in my post, but only if we have better laws and enforcement to protect our citizens from the criminals. you liberals can no longer have things both ways, it does not work. you scream for more gun control, then scream about the poor down trodden thug, and how he needs love, not harsh punishment. i am sorry but that does not work it has been proven time and time again, just look at what happened here.
Howard Kraft,
The term "assault rifle" is a misnomer (probably intentional for marketing purposes). The mechanism in the the rifle used in the crimes you mentioned is like any other rifle. The major difference is that it looks like a military rifle. I don't know if this is a good analogy, but think about those kits that are used to make a crummy car look like an expensive high performance vehicle. It may look like a high performance car on the outside, but it still functions like a beater.
I saddened and outraged by these heinous crimes, and believe we need to find real solutions rather than being driven by irrational emotions.
The solution is not in taking legally owned firearms away from hundreds of millions of law biding citizens, but in the proper care for the mentally ill and better sentencing of criminals...and perhaps investigating the correlation between these crimes and psychoactive medications.
the problem in this case is not that the guy had guns. the problems is that a convicted murderer was paroled. the shootings would never have happened in this case, if the guy had of gotten the death penalty instead of a parole.
I just cannot accept the fact that the courts of law let convicted murderers go free on parole. This is definitely an astronomical and downright idiotic and totally pathetic function of the system. It is just asking for more killings when the system allows these kinds of paroles. Once a killer, always a killer. Just look at the facts. It is just a matter of time before they kill again. It makes no sense that they are paroled. It is just total 100% ignorance and that is putting it politely.
Relax...
FBI Crime Stats for 2011
Population 1992 = 255 milion........murders were 23/100,000
Population 2011 = 311million........murders were 14/100,000 (and continuing to fall in 2012)
All Murders in 2011 = 14,612
Murders by ALL firearms =
8583....58%
Murders by ALL rifles including ASSAULT rifles = 323.....less than 4%
Murders by fists/feet etc = 728
More than rifles AND 5% of ALL the murders.
Why did you choose to not list handguns?
because it's rifles that are being mostly discussed? Handguns are included in the "Murders by ALL firearms. The FBI stats site has that number for you if you are interested.
Maybe we need to ban handguns.
How many were stabbed? How many were beat to death? How many were killed by a motor vehicle? How many were shoved off a cliff, or high building? If you you are going to quote stats then give them all....
@medic_us What point are you looking for with the remaining stats? I understand yakman's point clearly, this ridiculous focus on AR type rifles is absurd and the amount of crimes commited with firearms is so small in comparison to others means, yet nobody is fighting to fix those bigger causes.
The common denominator of all these shootings lately is their total despair. It's the economy and they've given up...no positive future and are angry. I'll bet this guy was living on Mom's Social Security and when she died he probably didn't work enough to qualify for enough to live on. Mental health? Balogna:) There is no saftey net for these people and for the younger ones the bar of "Success" has been raised so high by parents and society...we've created an army of people who want off this planet and are angry! If the economy changes even more and the Liberals who rely heavily on government to live will be joining this army as they lose jobs and benefits....it's coming!
The common denominator of all these shootings is GUNS!
@ oicy
he didnt just use guns, he used fire as well.
Was the shooter on anti-depressants? There may be a correlation between shootings and prescribed psychoactive pharmaceuticals. The Colombine shooters were on ADHD medication. At least 14 recent shootings were committed by individuals on or withdrawing from psychiatric meds. Between drugs (prescription and non) and the violent media, our populous seems to be getting the equivalent of a psychological Molotov cocktail. Something to look into. Either way this is a mental illness management issue.
slowinski is right the state of new York is full of liberal cowards who did away with the death penalty this crud should have been hung by his filthy neck an animal who kills is put down what makes anyone think that a human animal is different than a rabid dog or raccoon if he were put to death for killing his grandmother in the first place we would have two firemen alive today. This slime ball knew he could get away with murder in the first place and he could care it is up to the citizens of N.Y to do the right thing and vote to restore the death penalty And by the way DNA and modern crime scene analysis of today means better ways of finding the guilty parties so there is no excuses for you liberal life savers to groan and moan