On this date, December 24, 2012, William H. Spengler, murdered 3 people before shooting himself in Webster, New York. He had already spent 17 years in prison for murdering his grandmother in 1980. Another embarrassing moment for Abolitionist! There is no need to fight for him anymore to stay alive, he killed himself!
I will post information from Wikipedia and The Daily Mail.
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Killer: William Spengler had previously served 17 years in prison for killing his elderly grandmother. (PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254451/William-Spengler-shooting-Woman-24-bought-firearms-gunman-Christmas-Eve-firefighter-ambush.html) |
In the early morning of December 24, 2012, firefighters responding to a fire in West Webster, New York, a suburb of Rochester, were fired upon by 62-year-old William H. Spengler, who was believed to have deliberately set the fire. Two of the firefighters were killed.
Shooting
According to police, Spengler set his house on 191 Lake Road and the family car on fire in the early morning hours of Christmas Eve, and then armed himself with three guns: a Smith & Wesson.38-caliberrevolver, a Mossberg12-gaugeshotgun, and a .223-caliber Bushmastersemiautomatic rifle. When firefighters arrived shortly after 5:30 am, he ambushed them from his porch. Two firefighters were killed, and two others were injured.
Spengler exchanged shots with police, who arrived with an armored truck to remove the firefighters and 33 nearby civilians. Police say Spengler was then chased on foot, and died when he shot himself in the head. His body was discovered nearly six hours later. Due to the shooting, fire crews were unable to resume fighting the blaze until 11:30 a.m. By then, six other houses had burned to the ground, and two others had been rendered uninhabitable.
A severely burned body found inside Spengler's house is believed to be Spengler's 67-year-old sister Cheryl, with whom he was living. The shooting was suspected to have followed an argument between Spengler and Cheryl. A two-to-three-page typewritten letter written by Spengler was found at the scene. It reflected Spengler's intent to ambush first responders, but offered no motive for the shooting. In it he wrote: "I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down, and do what I like doing best, killing people."
Victims
The two firefighters killed in the shooting were 43-year-old Lieutenant Michael Chiapperini, the public information officer for the Webster Police Department, and 19-year-old Tomasz Kaczowka, who also worked as a 911 dispatcher. The two wounded firefighters were Joseph Hofstetter, who was shot in the pelvis (with the bullet then lodged in his spine), and Theodore Scardino, who was shot in the chest and knee. Both were hospitalized at Strong Memorial Hospital for serious injuries, and were declared to be in stable condition. In addition to the two wounded firefighters, officer Jon Ritter was slightly injured when a bullet hit the windshield of his car.
Perpetrator
Police identified the gunman as 62-year-old local resident William H. Spengler, Jr. Spengler previously spent 17 years in prison for murdering his 92-year-old grandmother with a hammer in 1980. He had not attracted the attention of police since then. William Spengler "could not stand" his sister Cheryl, according to a friend, Roger Vercruysse. Spengler's mother Arline, to whom he was said to have been close, died two months earlier.
Investigators immediately began focusing on how Spengler obtained the gun. New York, like nearly all other states, bars convicted felons from buying, owning or possessing a firearm. Before the day was out, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms discovered that the Bushmaster and the shotgun had been purchased in June 2010 at Gander Mountain in Henrietta, another Rochester suburb. The owner of record was Dawn Nguyen, a neighbor of Spengler, who had recently moved to the suburb of Greece. In an interview with agents that night, Nguyen admitted buying the guns, but claimed they had then been stolen. However, according to investigators, the next day Nguyen texted a Monroe County sheriff's deputy and admitted buying the guns for Spengler in an illegal straw purchase. On December 28, William Hochul, the United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, announced that Nguyen had been arrested and charged with knowingly making a false statement in connection with the purchase of a firearm from a Federal Firearms Licensee. She also faces state charges of filing a false business record—the form she filled out stating that she was the owner of the guns.
Reaction
In a statement, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said, "All of our thoughts and prayers go to the families and friends of those who were killed in this senseless act of violence." New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman also said, "The contributions made by the fallen and injured officers in Webster will never be forgotten."
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INTERNET SOURCE:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254451/William-Spengler-shooting-Woman-24-bought-firearms-gunman-Christmas-Eve-firefighter-ambush.html
Woman, 24, 'bought firearms for gunman' in Christmas Eve firefighter ambush as survivors reveal killer bragged of bludgeoning grandma to death with hammer because she wouldn't give him drug money
- Dawn Nguyen of Rochester, New York, was a former neighbor of William Spengler, 62, and purchased the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and 12-gauge shotgun used in the shooting on his behalf
- Spengler shot dead firefighters Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka as they responded to a house fire he started on Christmas Eve
- Nguyen admitted buying the guns for the killer to an off-duty cop but claimed they were hers and were stolen during an interview with detectives
- Neighbors have revealed that Spengler told them how he killed his grandmother within 15 minutes of meeting them
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A 24-year-old woman has been arrested for buying the assault rifle used to murder two innocent firefighters on Christmas Eve, on behalf of the killer.
Dawn Nguyen of Rochester, New York, was a former neighbor of William Spengler, 62, who shot dead firefighters Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka in a shocking ambush as they responded to a house fire he started early Monday morning. Three other people were wounded before Spengler killed himself.
According to police, Nguyen purchased the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun on behalf of Spengler, a convicted felon who was barred from possessing weapons, on June 6, 2010.
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Accessory: Nguyen is pictured after her arrest on charges connected to the guns used in the Christmas Eve ambush slaying of two volunteer firefighters. (PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254451/William-Spengler-shooting-Woman-24-bought-firearms-gunman-Christmas-Eve-firefighter-ambush.html) |
Spengler is believed to have picked out the weapons himself at a firearm store in Henrietta, New York.
The young woman faces a federal charge of knowingly making a false statement, U.S. Attorney William Hochul said, and is also charged with a state count of filing a falsified business record.
The gunman also had a .38-caliber revolver in his possession on the day of the shootings, but Nguyen is not connected to that gun. Police used the serial numbers on the weapons to trace them to Nguyen.
'She told the seller of these guns, Gander Mountain in Henrietta, N.Y., that she was to be the true owner and buyer of the guns instead of William Spengler,' Hochul said.
'It is absolutely against federal law to provide any materially false information related to the acquisition of firearms.'
During an interview late on Christmas Eve, Nguyen told police she had bought the guns for personal protection and that they were stolen from her vehicle, though she never reported the guns stolen.
The day after the shootings, however, Nguyen texted an off-duty Monroe County Sheriff's deputy with references to the killings and later admitted to him that she bought the guns for Spengler.
Police said that information was consistent with a suicide note found near Spengler's body after he killed himself.
The .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle, which had a combat-style flash suppressor, is similar to the one Adam Lanza used to shoot dead 20 children and six female staff at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, earlier this month.
Nguyen and her mother, Dawn Welsher, lived next door to Spengler in 2008 - when Nguyen was just 20 years old.
On Wednesday and again on Friday, shortly before her arrest, she answered her cellphone and told The Associated Press that she didn't want to talk about Spengler.
Her brother, Steven Nguyen, told the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper of Rochester that Spengler stole the guns from Dawn Nguyen.
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Bushmaster: Nguyen allegedly bought the Bushmaster rifle, pictured, for William Spengler and he used it to shoot two firefighters (PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254451/William-Spengler-shooting-Woman-24-bought-firearms-gunman-Christmas-Eve-firefighter-ambush.html) |
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Home: Dawn Nguyen was arrested at her home, pictured, at 249 Alpine Road in Rochester, New York (PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254451/William-Spengler-shooting-Woman-24-bought-firearms-gunman-Christmas-Eve-firefighter-ambush.html) |
Spengler set a car on fire and touched off an inferno in his Webster home on a strip of land along the Lake Ontario shore, took up a sniper's position and opened fire on the first firefighters to arrive at about 5:30am on Christmas Eve, authorities said. He wounded two other firefighters and an off-duty police officer who was on his way to work.
A Webster police officer who had accompanied the firefighters shot back at Spengler with a rifle in a brief exchange of gunfire before the gunman killed himself.
Spengler spent 17 years in prison for killing his grandmother in 1980. His neighbors said he confessed his criminal past within 15 minutes of them meeting, and even pointed to the staircase where he committed the crime.
'He said, "I was on drugs and I wanted money for drugs and my grandmother wouldn't give it to me,"' Amy Warner, who bought the cottage next to Spengler's home with her boyfriend this summer, told New York Magazine.
She said they tore out the staircase 'because it was creepy,' but didn't think twice about buying the house because Spengler had served his time. Her home was one of seven destroyed by the fire Spengler started.
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Trap: This billowing inferno in Webster, New York, was lit by William Spengler, before he opened fire on the firefighters who responded to the blaze (PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254451/William-Spengler-shooting-Woman-24-bought-firearms-gunman-Christmas-Eve-firefighter-ambush.html) |
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Brave: Webster police Lieutenant Mike Chiapperini (left) and Tomasz Kaczowka, (right) a 911 dispatcher, both volunteered for the West Webster Fire Department. They were gunned down on Monday morning (PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254451/William-Spengler-shooting-Woman-24-bought-firearms-gunman-Christmas-Eve-firefighter-ambush.html) |
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Brave: Webster police Lieutenant Mike Chiapperini (left) and Tomasz Kaczowka, (right) a 911 dispatcher, both volunteered for the West Webster Fire Department. They were gunned down on Monday morning (PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254451/William-Spengler-shooting-Woman-24-bought-firearms-gunman-Christmas-Eve-firefighter-ambush.html) |
Investigators still haven't released the identity of remains found in William Spengler's burned house.
They have said they believe the remains are those of his 67-year-old sister, Cheryl Spengler, who also lived in the house near Rochester and has been unaccounted for since the killings.
The Spengler siblings had lived in the home with their mother, Arline Spengler, who died in October. Police found a rambling, typed letter laying out Spengler's intention to destroy his neighborhood and 'do what I like doing best, killing people.'
He had been released from parole in 2006 on the manslaughter conviction, and authorities said they had had no encounters with him since.
Nguyen faces a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000 or both.
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Burning: A bystander watches while seven homes in a street in Webster, New York, burned (PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254451/William-Spengler-shooting-Woman-24-bought-firearms-gunman-Christmas-Eve-firefighter-ambush.html) |