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Gunman who ambushed firefighters killed grandmother in 1980, police say (Banned From Owning Guns)
NBC News ^ | December 24, 2012 | Jason White

Posted on 12/24/2012 1:54:39 PM PST by Pinkbell

The gunman who ambushed four volunteer firefighters, killing two, in upstate New York had spent 17 years in prison for beating his grandmother to death with a hammer in 1980, police said.

Undated booking photo of William Spengler, who shot and killed two firefighters Monday.

William Spengler opened fire on the volunteers as they responded to a blaze just before 6 a.m. ET in a small cluster of homes along Lake Ontario in Webster, N.Y., police said, rocking this close-knit community.

The 62-year-old convicted felon had apparently set a trap, firing on the first responders from atop an earthen berm.

"It does appear that it was a trap that was set," said Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering, his voice breaking at times. “People who get up in the middle of the night to fight fires, they don’t expected to get shot and killed."

Pickering lost a colleague in the incident: Police Lieutenant Michael Chiapperini, who was a volunteer firefighter. The other firefighter killed by Spengler was Tomasz Kaczowka.

Despite being shot, one of the injured firefighters was able to flee from scene under his own power. But the others remained pinned down on the narrow strip of land between Lake Ontario and Irondequoit Bay until a SWAT team arrived.

As police closed in, Spengler took his own life with a gunshot wound to the head, Pickering said. He was convicted of manslaughter in 1981 after the death of his grandmother, Rose Spengler, and was paroled in 1998.

Spengler's 67-year-old sister Cheryl Spengler is unaccounted for, Pickering said. Spengler lived in the house with his sister and mother, Arline, who died in October.

Prior to Monday's shooting, Webster police had not had any run-ins with Spengler since he was paroled, they said.

(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: banglist; guns; newyork; shooting
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To: Newbomb Turk
"Any weapon used in an assault is an assault weapon; be it a baseball bat, knif.e, vehicle, piece of log chain, tazer. "

...or a hammer - but the libs probably couldn't ban "ASSAULT HAMMERS".

21 posted on 12/24/2012 2:21:28 PM PST by broken_arrow1 (I regret that I have but one life to give for my country - Nathan Hale "Patriot")
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To: CaptainK

They guy pled guilty to manslaughter, so technically he wasn’t a murderer.


22 posted on 12/24/2012 2:36:25 PM PST by Strategerist
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To: Dawgreg

No Dawg, lib thinking is, “if you take guns from the good guys, then the bad guys won’t be bad,”


23 posted on 12/24/2012 2:47:13 PM PST by Undecided 2012
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To: Pinkbell

****The 62-year-old convicted felon had apparently set a trap,***

This is not something new. I remember back in the 1960s and’70s of fires being set and the firemen ambushed. It got so bad in one city that fires in certain areas were not answered till police secured the area.


24 posted on 12/24/2012 2:57:22 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (REOPEN THE CLOSED MENTAL INSTITUTIONS! Damn the ACLU!)
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To: broken_arrow1

I would agree with you on the assault hammers, I keep nothing but defense hammers in my toolbox.


25 posted on 12/24/2012 3:03:10 PM PST by Taxbilly
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To: Pinkbell
Banned From Owning Guns

That worked out real well, didn't it?

Paryers for the firemen and their families.

26 posted on 12/24/2012 3:03:39 PM PST by bgill (We've passed the point of no return. Welcome to Al Amerika.)
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To: Taxbilly
I keep nothing but defense hammers in my toolbox.

I hope you don't own one of these:

There is no reason for anyone other than law enforcement to have hammers with multiple heads.

27 posted on 12/24/2012 3:11:52 PM PST by Right Brother
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To: Right Brother
Air cooled gas operated!


28 posted on 12/24/2012 3:24:32 PM PST by Taxbilly
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To: Pinkbell

Volunteer firefighters are some of the finest folks in America. We supported them in our community with barbecue events, Fourth of July picnics and community dances, breakfasts and raffles throughout the year at either the townhall or the American Legion post.

Prayers for the deceased and their families.


29 posted on 12/24/2012 3:26:37 PM PST by sergeantdave (The FBI has declared war on the Marine Corps)
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To: Right Brother
Assault hammers


30 posted on 12/24/2012 3:39:12 PM PST by fattigermaster
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To: Pinkbell

“Here’s a perfect example of a person banned from getting guns who wanted guns getting them anyway. “

This is the argument that the lefties will use. They’ll say that banning use by individuals doesn’t work - you have to ban all guns, instead.

This is going to be a real fight. Or not.


31 posted on 12/24/2012 3:44:47 PM PST by APatientMan (Pick a side)
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To: Pinkbell

Memo to Diane Finestein:

Lanza was banned from buying guns and yet he managed to kill 26 people.

This guy was banned from buying guns and yet he managed to kill two people and wanted to kill more.

Simple quiz: What do these two gentlemen have in common? Both of them should have been locked up.

Now, about your plan to ban “assault weapons.” Which of the 28 deaths here would your ban have prevented?


32 posted on 12/24/2012 3:46:25 PM PST by upchuck (America's at an awkward stage. Too late to work within the system, too early to shoot the bastards.)
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To: Pinkbell
(Banned From Owning Guns)

Where did he get the gun? Today, Drudge had an article up saying the NY press has put out a list of registered gun owners and their address on a map. So, if there are any other crazy killers out there they'll know where to steal one.
The liberals need a certain number of deaths to push their agenda. This news paper posting should help them get a few more bodies piled before New Years.

33 posted on 12/24/2012 3:52:03 PM PST by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: sergeantdave
Volunteer firefighters are some of the finest folks in America.

Absolutely. Their unionized counterparts pale by comparison.

34 posted on 12/24/2012 3:52:13 PM PST by Carry_Okie (Islam offers us choices: convert or kill, submit or die.)
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To: Pinkbell

This POS should have gotten a needle years ago. Beat your Grandmother to death and is walking free after 17 years in jail. Unbelievable.

Thank the liberal jackasses in the NY court system for this. 7 years is the average time served for murder in this state. He was allowed to plea down the murder charges to manslaughter originally.


35 posted on 12/24/2012 4:15:19 PM PST by headstamp 2 (What would Scooby do?)
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To: Pinkbell
Liberals directly and indirectly kill people.
36 posted on 12/24/2012 4:33:33 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: Pinkbell

It’s even worse. The conviction wasn’t for murder; it was for voluntary manslaulghter and he only served 17 years. Voluntary manlaughter is an intentional killing under extreme provocation that isn’t sufficient to constitute the “death or great bodily harm” provocation that provides a self defense argument. An examle would me a man catching another man in bed with his wife. Hard tine for that to have happened here, especially when the murder was committed with a hammer. Looks like a plea bargain gone badly wrong where the perp should have spent the rest of his life in the slammer.


37 posted on 12/24/2012 5:07:00 PM PST by libstripper
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To: Pinkbell
Very few people should be banned from owning guns. If a felon has served his time and is not perceived to be a threat to society, he should absolutely be allowed to own guns. If he is a threat, he shouldn't get out.

The same with the asylums, if they aren't well, keep them in. You covered it pretty well with this though:

Why was this lunatic out of a jail? HE BEAT HIS GRANDMOTHER TO DEATH WITH A HAMMER! He should have never seen the light of day. What was wrong with that parole board?

38 posted on 12/24/2012 5:47:38 PM PST by Graybeard58 ("Civil rights” leader and MSNB-Hee Haw host Al Sharpton - Larry Elder)
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To: Pinkbell

The P.O.S. had “served his sentence” and was released on parole. Incredibly, he wasn’t even on parole - that ended several tears ago.

One thing the national news doesn’t seem to mention is that the West Webster Fire Department is a volunteer fire co. Those guys were not getting paid.

They are very common in the suburban and rural areas here.

Another sad fact of this case: one of the dead firemen was only 19 years old.


39 posted on 12/24/2012 6:04:26 PM PST by Nik Naym (It's not my fault... I have compulsive smartass disorder.)
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To: Aevery_Freeman

Hanging is too quick and painless.

Televised torture...daily and weekly special on the many ways to inflict intense pain on the filth causing harm to innocents.

I know it’s brutal and wrong but it might just put the fear of it in the minds of the vermin that would harm those that don’t have it coming to them.


40 posted on 12/24/2012 6:45:36 PM PST by soycd
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