4 firefighters shot, 2 killed at Webster, N.Y., fire

The gunman, who served prison time for killing his grandmother with a hammer, committed suicide.

WEBSTER, N.Y. — A gunman ambushed firefighters at a house fire in the Rochester suburb of Webster, N.Y., early Monday, killing two firemen and injuring two others before killing himself on a Lake Ontario beach.

Seven homes were destroyed as firefighters waited for police to secure the scene.

The gunman, who shot himself at the scene, was identified as 62-year-old William Spengler. He was charged in 1980 with beating his 92-year-old grandmother to death with a hammer in her home next door.

Spengler served 17 years in New York State prison on manslaughter charges, police officials said. He was on probation until 2006 and reportedly had lived quietly with his mother, who died in October, and sister at 191 Lake Road, along a sliver of land between Irondequoit Bay and the lake.

Spengler's 67-year-old sister, Cheryl, remains unaccounted for.

More