Family Life

12.24.12 | Sarah Harnisch

A car fire was started around 5:30 a.m. at 191 Lake Rd. near Bay Rd. and when the first responders arrived, a gunman opened fire on them. Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering said that the suspect may have created the fire as a trap for the first responders. Before the firemen could respond to the blaze, it burned 4 homes to the ground and destroyed 4 other homes. 33 people had to be evacuated.

In an afternoon press conference, Pickering said one of the firefighters was able to escape in his private vehicle, while the others remained pinned down for around an hour.

Firefighters Mike Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka were shot and died at the scene. Chiapperini was a member of the Webster Police Department. Kaczowka, in his early 20s, was a 911 dispatcher.

The other two firefighters that were shot are Theodore Scardino and Joseph Hofsetter. They were transported to Strong Memorial Hospital and are listed in guarded condition. Doctors at Strong Hospital said Scardino was shot twice, once in the shoulder and once in the knee. Hofsetter was shot in the pelvis.
 
A fifth individual, off-duty Greece police officer John Ritter, was injured by shrapnel.

William H. Spengler Jr., the man believed to be the shooter, was found dead outside the home where the shootings occurred, killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Here are photos of the homes and the brave men who died.