Christmas Eve gun horror: Two firemen shot dead by assault rifle gunman who set blaze to lure them into deadly trap

Two brave volunteer firefighters were shot dead today In West Webster and two injured when a lone gunman started a blaze as a trap to lure the men and opened fire on Christmas Eve.
In addition a single police officer from the nearby Greene police force in New York state was hit by shrapnel during the shooting which comes just ten days after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre rocked the nation.
The firefighters were called out to the fire on the shores of Lake Ontario at around 5.35 a.m. and the shooter immediately opened fire using an assault rifle - before a police SWAT team arrived and soon after the gunman died from a self inflicted gunshot wound.
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Police lieutenant Mike Chiapperini (left) and Tomasz Kaczowka, (right) a 911 dispatcher, who had both volunteered with the West Webster fire department tragically died in the shooting

 

Joseph Hofsetter was injured in the shooting and was rescued by a police SWAT team in the town of West Webster

 

Gunman: The gunman, identified by police as William Spengler opened fire as soon as the firefighters arrived, killing two firefighter volunteers

A bystander watches while the home in West Webster burns

 

The firefighters had to leave the scene of the shooting leaving the fire to burn out of control

 

The firefighters of West Webster were attacked as they responded to the blaze which broke out on the shores of Lake Ontario

 

It is reported that three homes are ablaze in West Webster, New York which was the scene of a fatal shooting in the sleepy town

 

The gunman, identified by police as William Spengler opened fire as soon as the firefighters arrived, killing police lieutenant Mike Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka, a 911 dispatcher, who had both volunteered with the West Webster fire department.
He served 17 years in prison for beating his 92-year-old grandmother, Rose Spengler, to death with a hammer on July 18th 1980.
He did not have a license to own a firearm.
In addition, two full time fire men, Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino were shot and injured by the gunman and are currently in nearby Strong hospital along with John Ritter, an off duty police officer who was hit by shrapnel from the volley of bullets.
All three men are in a guarded condition according to West Webster fire Chief Gerald Pickering, who confirmed that there was only one gunman and that it appears the fire was started as a trap.
'It does appear it was a trap set for first responders,' said a visibly emotional Pickering at a press conference this morning.