Webster, N.Y., police and firefighters have had to deal with their share of tragedy just like any first responders, but it took an act of strength to bury one of their own on Sunday.
Thousands turned out for the funeral of Webster Police Lt. Mike Chiapperini, 43, a volunteer firefighter who was killed in a Christmas Eve ambush that a Webster ex-convict had set up against firefighters responding to an early-morning fire.
Police are still investigating why William Spengler, 62, set up the attack, killing two and wounding three. Authorities also suspect that he killed his sister; they found human remains in the burned-out wreckage of his home.
He left a rambling, typewritten note explaining his hopes to burn down the neighborhood and saying that killing was what he did best -- he had killed his grandmother with a hammer in 1980 and served 18 years in prison -- but police said he left no hint of a specific motive.
Spengler killed himself in the attack, in which he was found with a Bushmaster .223 assault rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and a .38-caliber revolver. Authorities charged a neighbor Friday with buying the guns for Spengler, who as a felon was barred from owning any.
Rochester-area real estate agent Laura LaManna told the Los Angeles Times that Spengler's sister, Cheryl, 67, had closed on a new house in nearby Henrietta on Dec. 18, six days before the attack.
The siblings did not get along, according to those who knew them. They had lived with their mother before her death in October, when Cheryl Spengler began looking for new house and planned to sell the old one, LaManna said.
"She [Cheryl] had said that she needed to move," LaManna said. "Her mother had passed away, and her and her brother didn't get along, and really, that was the gist of it. She made a couple other statements, but nothing that really sent up red flags, [although] I thought it was odd they didn't get along."
LaManna said Cheryl Spengler mentioned plans to sell the house where she lived with the brother sometime after their mother's estate had been settled in the new year. She was in the process of organizing movers, LaManna said.
Police think William Spengler set fire to a car near their home, which eventually consumed seven houses in the neighborhood. They suspect Spengler used the assault rifle to do most of his shooting.
Chiapperini died of a single gunshot wound, and his televised funeral Sunday at a local high school brought waves of first responders in formal black attire to hear tributes to his life. The community planned to hold a funeral for the other firefighter killed, Tomasz Kaczowka, 19, on Monday.
Sgt. Dennis Kohlmeier of the Webster Police Department struggled to find words as he stepped to the microphone at the auditorium. Chiapperini, he said, was responsible for him "coming to Webster in the first place."
He halted and did not resume until a group of officers came to the stage and surrounded him as he delivered his tribute to a friend he described as relentlessly helpful.
"Last week I was changing a tire," Kohlmeier said. "He saw me doing it. Immediately he was out of his car. There was no doubt the thing was flat, but he wanted to see where the leak was coming from. So he sprayed it with half a gallon of Windex." The audience laughed. "So I got left with a slippery flat tire and had to carry it back to my car."
Webster Police Chief Gerald L. Pickering said Chiapperini "was a husband, father, son, brother, uncle, a business owner, firefighter and police officer all rolled into one man."
"He loved being in the action," Pickering said. "He rushed to too many places. He lived in the fast lane. But Mike loved life, and he loved his life."
As Pickering neared the end of his remarks, he called out Chiapperini's name and then fell silent.
Seven seconds passed. Another police official squeezed Pickering's shoulder.
"Car 941," Pickering finally continued. "You are 10-7. Your work" -- Pickering gave a brief sob -- "your work is done here. Rest in peace, my friend."
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