A gunman who shot four volunteer firefighters and killed two of them at the scene of an upstate New York house fire early Monday was found dead of a gunshot wound — a horrific attack that may have been a “trap,” officials said.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said the Christmas Eve blaze in Webster, east of Rochester, appeared to be an ambush setup to go after first responders who were arriving to the fire just after 5:30 a.m.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE DAILY NEWS ONLINE PETITION TO BAN ASSAULT WEAPONS
In addition, an off-duty Greece police officer who responded to the call was injured by shrapnel after rounds fired into his truck.
The fallen firefighters were identified as Tomasz Kaczowka, a 911 dispatcher in his early 20s, and Michael Chiapperini, a 43-year-old lieutenant with the Webster Police Department. The men died at the scene.
“It’s a very dificult situation,” said Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering as he fought back tears during an emotional news conference.
“People get up in the middle of the night to fight fires,” Pickering said. “They don’t expect to get shot and killed.”
The sheriff’s office evacuated the Lake Road neighborhood after the shooter exchanged gunfire with an officer who first responded to the fire near the Lake Ontario shore. The blaze burned three homes and a car as firefighters fought flames alongside cops searching for the shooting suspect.
WHAM
A SWAT team was sent in to evacuate residents and secure the area from at least one gunman Monday morning, officials in Webster, N.Y., said.
Ultimately, four homes were destroyed and four others were damaged.
Police couldn’t say if the gunman’s injury was self-inflicted. His body was located near the home where the fire began.
The West Webster Fire Department, a mix of volunteer and paid firefighters, was called to put out the initial inferno. But as the blaze spread to two other homes and a vehicle, firefighters were forced back amid chaos when a shooter started gunning down their colleagues, Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn said.
Two others with gunshot wounds were listed in guarded condition at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.
Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino were described as being alert and able to breathe on their own after the shooting. Hofsetter was hit in the pelvis, while Scardino was shot twice and injured in his left shoulder, left lung and knee, hospital officials said.
Christine VanTimmeren/WHEC/Reuters
Two Webster firefighters responding to the house fire Monday morning were killed.
Fire crews returned to tackle the inferno again around 10 a.m., a sheriff’s office spokesman said.
And a SWAT team swept into the area and evacuated parts of the neighborhood, Webster resident Michael Damico told the Democrat and Chronicle.
“Some people on this bus already watched their houses burn,” Damico said. “They’re not happy.”
Throughout Monroe County, black flags were hoisted up flag poles as news that the firefighters who heroically rushed to the frenzied scene became victims themselves.
Police in Webster, N.Y., are looking for a gunman who shot at multiple people early Monday morning at a house fire.
“NY’s first responders are true heroes as they time and again selflessly rush toward danger to keep our families safe,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted Monday.
The shooting comes 10 days after a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children, at a Connecticut elementary school before turning the gun on himself.
eortiz@nydailynews.com
If you agree with an assault weapons ban, please sign the petition by printing out this article, cutting out this form and mailing it to address listed. Or CLICK HERE TO SIGN OUR ONLINE PETITION
Open all references in tabs: [1 – 4]