Local residents in the lakefront town of Webster, NY returned to inspect the charred remains of their homes yesterday after the horrifying Christmas Eve shooting and arson that left two firefighters dead. Reporters were at the scene as neighbors of William Spengler—who set his home and car on fire then shot four first responders as they came to the rescue—surveyed the damage. Six other houses went up in flames because firefighters could not do their jobs with a sniper on the loose. Police say Spengler ultimately shot himself.
“I just wanted to see if there was anything left. There is nothing,” John Kohut, 68, told the Times as gazed at the burned floorboards and charred concrete indicating where his home once stood. "You can’t even tell where the refrigerator or stove or anything was. It is hard to make any sense of it.” Outside a bar in Webster last night, local residents gathered for a candlelight vigil to sing and remember the two murdered firefighters, Mike Chiapperini, 43, and Tomasz Kaczowka, 19.
Police Lt. Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka, who were both killed.
"This is what represents this community," said Supreme Court Justice David Barry, who officiated the vigil in the village. "Not those who commit stupid, senseless acts of violence." Spengler's two other victims are currently in stable condition and expected to recover. Joseph Hofstetter, 33, was shot in the pelvis while Theodore Scardino, 48, was shot twice, in the left shoulder and right knee. The remains of a woman believed to be Spengler's older sister was found in the burned house they shared together.
Neighbors say Spengler, 62, seemed harmless enough, even though he did 17 years in prison for murdering his grandmother with a hammer. “You wouldn’t have known,” neighbor Andrea Fiore told the Democrat and Chronicle, recalling a day Spengler chatted with her son while he was mowing the lawn. "He approached people and would talk to people. Thank God he didn’t snap while he was near my kid.” Another neighbor, Nick Marino, tells the NY Times that Spengler seemed like “an old hippie" and in a subsequent interview described him as "a calm guy."
But Marino also recalled that the last time Spengler approached him—to complain about taxes—he was wearing just cutoff jean shorts, a T-shirt, and sandals, despite it being bitterly cold. Another neighbor tells the Post, “He was shunned by a lot of people down there and maybe he was a little sick of it. He would come over and try to make small talk. When you were outside, you really couldn’t get away from him. He’d always want to come over. As soon as you’d pull in there, he’d just come out. I kind of thought he was lonely and wanted to talk to somebody."
Federal investigators say they've traced the buyer and seller of the illegally owned weapons that Spengler used in the shootings. As an ex-con on parole, Spengler was prohibited from owning them, but because the investigation is ongoing, officials have not yet revealed how Spengler obtained the rifle and the other firearms in his possession. He used a .223 Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle during the shooting, the same weapon that was used in the Sandy Hook school shooting.
Funerals for the two slain firefighters will be held on Sunday and Monday. "We are all brothers,” Gene Preston, 71, a member of the local North Greece Fire Department, told the Times. “When one bleeds, we all bleed. It is unbelievable and unspeakable. In all my days of fighting fires, not once did I pull up to the scene and think I would be shot at. You think water supply and human life — in that order. Being shot at is not part of our training.”
