The first responders who answered the call for a common car fire on Lake Road in Webster on Christmas Eve never expected what lay in wait.
But in the year since two of them were killed and two others injured, they’ve been reviewing the incident and sharing their findings to better prepare emergency personnel elsewhere, reports USA Today.
The gunman, who shot himself at the scene, was identified as 62-year-old William Spengler Jr. Spengler apparently set fire to his home and a vehicle to lure firefighters, whom he shot from a berm nearby.
Killed were 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. Chiapperini had been named “Firefighter of the Year” two weeks before the incident.
Firefighters Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino were injured by Spengler’s gunfire and an off-duty police officer who was driving by at the time also was injured by flying shrapnel.
A body believed to be that of Spengler’s sister, Cheryl Spengler, 67, was found in the rubble of the burned home.
The Webster Police Department drafted an overview of its response for other law enforcement agencies and has shared it at about a dozen presentations across the state and in Maryland, Lt. Dennis Kohlmeier said.
Read more of the story herehttp://usat.ly/1lcNvZJ
