Ever since the reelection, conservatives and extremists were buying up firearms in bulk. The National Rifle Association weekend talk show blitz was a disaster. They continue to blame entertainment and President Barack Obama for the Sandy Hook shooting. The conservative agitating media continues to poke the bee's nest of violence. First The Drudge Report, Breitbart, Fox Nation and The Blaze post up controversial stories that paint Blacks and Hispanics as the enemy. The readers look at these stories and begin tossing a word salad. They're sending more threatening and offensive statements online. Some comments appear to show racism at its finest.
The Republicans are atone to their concerns and are continuing this ongoing gridlock with the nation's debt ceiling and are stubbornly taking us the fiscal cliff. The sequester possibility is decreased to at least 43% in likely passing. The possibility was 57% at the time.
The newest tragedy starts Webster, New York. The people of the small town are mourning this holiday! A gunman who had no business holding onto a firearm started a massive fire and then launched an assault on firefighters.
Two firefighters were killed. We here at Journal de la Reyna send our condolences to those who were lost in this senseless tragedy. The Telegraph reports this tragedy. The Associated Press and Rochester Democrat also provide all the information to this story.
William Spengler, 62, armed himself with three weapons, including a Bushmaster assault rifle - the same type of weapon used by Sandy Hook Elementary shooter Adam Lanza - and set his house afire to lure first responders into a death trap.
Two firefighters were shot dead and two others are hospitalized. Spengler killed himself as seven houses burned around him Monday.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that a body - believed to be his sister Cheryl Spengler - was found in the charred rubble of his home.
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| Tomasz Kaczowka was killed in ambush. |
A family friend of William Spengler says he 'couldn't stand' his sister and said the two had a difficult relationship.
Police have not confirmed for certain that the charred remains are Cheryl's, but it is believed she died in the house.
Police are investigating whether a fight with her sparked the shocking violence - which took place just ten days after the elementary school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut.
William Spengler has a history of brutality against his family. In July 1980, he beat his 92-year-old grandmother Rose Spengler to death with a hammer. He served 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter. He was released in 1998.
Authorities believe he used an assault rifle to kill Webster police Lieutenant Mike Chiapperini, 42, and Tomasz Kaczowka, 19, a rookie 911 dispatcher who was best friends with Lt. Chiapperini's son.
Spengler, who shot himself dead after a brief firefight with police, is a convicted felon and cannot legally own a gun in New York.
However, somehow, he was able to obtain an assault rifle - the same type of weapon that was used to murder 20 first graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. Police say Spengler also had a handgun.
Roger Vercruysse, who claims Spengler was a good friend when they lived next door in Webster, a Rochester suburb, said Spengler 'couldn't stand' his sister, Cheryl Spengler. Police were unable to locate her since the home she shared with William Spengler was burned down.
Mr. Vercruysse said Spengler 'loved his mama to death.' Arline Spengler died in October, and Mr. Vercruysse wonders what effect that had on her 62-year-old son. He says he thinks William Spengler 'went crazy' after she died.
Police say they don't have a motive for the killings on the shore of Lake Ontario.
However, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports that detectives believe a fight between William Spengler and his sister Cheryl, whom he lived with, could have sparked the horrific violence.
The victims, Lt. Chiapperini and Kaczowka, were public servants who bravely volunteered to be firefighters in their off-hours.
Lt. Chiapperini was a community leader who was heavily involved as a volunteer firefighter and had held nearly every post at the fire house. He even trained Mr. Kaczowka, who spent three years of high school training in the department's Explorer program.
In addition, two full time fire men, Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino were shot and wounded by the gunman and are currently in nearby Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, along with John Ritter, an off duty police officer who was hit by shrapnel from the volley of bullets.
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| Lieutenant Mike Chiapperini was killed in ambush. |
Mr. Hofsetter, who is also a full-time firefighter with the Rochester Fire Department, was hit once in the pelvis and the bullet lodged in his spine, authorities said. Mr. Scardino was hit in the chest and knee.
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.
'These people wake up in the middle of the night to fight fires, they don't expect to get shot.'
Monday's shooting and fires were in a neighborhood of seasonal and year-round homes set close together across the road from the lakeshore. The area is popular with recreational boaters but is normally quiet this time of year.
'We have very few calls for service in that location,' Pickering said. 'Webster is a tremendous community. We are a safe community, and to have a tragedy befall us like this is just horrendous.'
O'Flynn lamented the violence, which comes on the heels of other shootings including the massacre of 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
'It's sad to see that that this is becoming more commonplace in communities across the nation,' O'Flynn said.
Webster, a middle-class suburb, now is the scene of violence linked to house fires for two Decembers in a row.
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| The Bushmaster AR 15 flying off the shelves of gun stores in the United States. |
'All of our thoughts and prayers go to the families and friends of those who were killed in this senseless act of violence,' New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.
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| Joseph Hofsetter was shot and injured. |
'As this investigation unfolds, we stand with our partners in law enforcement to ensure that lethal weapons are out of the hands of dangerous people, so that the brave New Yorkers who risk their lives every day to protect us are not exposed to additional danger,' he added.
'There's a heightened awareness to this kind of violence in light of what happened in Connecticut,' said Maggie Brooks, leader of the local administration in Monroe County, the area which includes Webster.
'We have first responders and we have families who are in pain and crisis today and we need to, as a community, keep them in our thoughts and prayers,' Mrs Brooks said, adding that it was a 'very, very difficult day.'
One neighbor who was walking her dog at the time of the shooing said that she saw a car driving away from the scene at around 90 miles an hour.
She said the car was being driven erratically by a male driver and it is believed that the occupant was fleeing the incident
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| The shooter William Spangler wanted to kill as many people as he could. |
'People who volunteer to come down and help others, to be shot at, wounded, killed. It's terrible.'
Of course these senseless tragedies happen in the suburbs. They managed to make the national news. Everyday a shooting happens and some make the 5pm news or the national news.
In Pennsylvania, a gunman last week killed four people before killing himself.
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