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Omaha Steve

(99,697 posts)
Thu Dec 27, 2012, 01:27 AM Dec 2012

2 NY firefighters who survived gun ambush thankful

Source: AP-Excite

By GEORGE M. WALSH

Two firefighters wounded by a gunman who set his upstate New York house ablaze and killed two of their colleagues in an ambush with weapons he wasn't allowed to own were on the mend Wednesday and said they were thankful for the support they've received.

Investigators, meanwhile, traced the gunman's weapons and tried to confirm a body found in his destroyed house was his sister's.

West Webster volunteer firefighters Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino, who had been in guarded condition, were being upgraded to satisfactory condition on Wednesday at Rochester's Strong Memorial Hospital, which released a statement from them saying they were "humbled and a bit overwhelmed by the outpouring of well wishes for us and our families."

The firefighters said their "thoughts and prayers" were with the families of colleagues Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka, killed by William Spengler Jr., a convicted felon barred from having guns. Funerals are set for the next few days for Chiapperini and Kaczowka.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20121226/DA3DOCQG2.html





This 2006 image provided by the Monroe County Sheriff's Department shows William H. Spengler Jr. Authorities say Spengler, 62, set a house and car ablaze Monday, Dec. 24, 2012 in Webster, N.Y., and then opened fire, killing two firefighters and wounding two others. Spengler, who served 17 years in prison for the 1980 slaying of his grandmother, later killed himself after a shootout with police. (AP Photo/Monroe County Sheriff's Department )

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2 NY firefighters who survived gun ambush thankful (Original Post) Omaha Steve Dec 2012 OP
Yet we still don't need gun control. . .he could have stabbed the firefighters or throwing a knife Nanjing to Seoul Dec 2012 #1
This isnt an incident to push gun control bossy22 Dec 2012 #2
Post removed Post removed Dec 2012 #3
 

Nanjing to Seoul

(2,088 posts)
1. Yet we still don't need gun control. . .he could have stabbed the firefighters or throwing a knife
Thu Dec 27, 2012, 02:12 AM
Dec 2012

to kill them.

NRA, defend this! He SHOULD NOT HAVE GUNS, being a convicted felon!!!!

bossy22

(3,547 posts)
2. This isnt an incident to push gun control
Thu Dec 27, 2012, 06:09 AM
Dec 2012

gun control will have no effect on these specific type of incidents. I'm not talking "the bad guys will always have guns" I'm saying this guy planned out a whole scenario- there is very little you can do too stop this.

Would the FF's still be alive today if this asshole didnt have a gun? maybe, maybe not. If he didn't have a gun might he have just booby trapped the house (which is really not that hard and amounts to just putting plastic gas cans all over the house)- could that have possibly killed more fireman?

Also, I'm speaking from experience on this one, I'm a volunteer myself and I happened to come accross one of these "booby trapped" houses (in fact it was one of my first calls after getting off probation). The only reason I am alive today is that the person was so drunk that he spilled gasoline on himself that when he tried to light the house up he lit himself instead. If he was sober I probably wouldn't be typing this today.

Response to Nanjing to Seoul (Reply #1)

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