Shot N.Y. firefighters remain hospitalized
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Two upstate New York firefighters remain hospitalized in guarded condition Tuesday, a day after being shot in a hail of bullets that killed two other firefighters responding to a house fire that investigators say appears to have been set as a trap.
Firefighters Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino are recovering at a hospital in Rochester, New York.
They were among four firefighters who responded to the blaze in the suburban Rochester town of Webster Monday morning. Authorities say William Spengler set a house and car ablaze and then opened fire when the firefighters showed up. He later exchanged bullets with a police officer before killing himself.
The 62-year-old was released from prison in 1998 after serving 17 years for killing his grandmother. Spengler's 67-year-old sister, Cheryl, remains unaccounted for.
Spengler apparently set fire to the home and a vehicle to lure firefighters, whom he shot from a berm nearby. Police have have not released information about a motive for the arson and killings, nor have they released details about the weapons Spengler used or possessed. As a convicted felon, he could not legally own firearms.
Police Chief Gerald Pickering said all four firefighters who responded to the call at 5:35 a.m. ET came under fire when they drove up.
The dead are Webster Police Lt. Mike Chiapperini, 43, a volunteer firefighter and the police department's public information officer, and Tomasz Kaczowka, 19, who worked as a 911 dispatcher for Monroe County.
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