Two Webster firefighters are dead and several houses on Lake Road burned after someone opened fire on firefighters who responded to an early morning blaze, officials said.
Two other firefighters are in guarded condition at Strong Memorial Hospital with gunshot wounds, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
An off-duty Greece police officer who was driving near the scene was injured by shrapnel.
The dead are Lt. Mike Chiapperini, 43, a volunteer firefighter and the Webster Police Department’s public information officer, and Tomasz Kaczowka. Chiapperini led the fire department’s explorer program for high schoolers. Both men died at the scene. Kaczowka, in his early 20s, is also a 911 dispatcher.
“These people get up in the middle of the night to fight fires. They don’t expect to be shot and killed,” Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering said at a news conference just before noon.
The shooter was found dead outside the home where the shootings occurred, killed by an apparent gunshot wound.
… Pickering said shots were fired at West Webster firefighters when they arrived on the scene. He said it appeared the shooter had set a trap for first responders.
After the fire became a crime scene, firefighters were not able to resume fighting the blaze until roughly 11 a.m., after the shooter had been confirmed dead, Pickering said. In the meantime, the nearby houses became engulfed in flames.
The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, “Two Firefighters Dead, Two Injured in Webster; Shooter Found Dead.”
Go ahead, gun nuts. Have at it and blame the firefighters for this one.
