Four Firefighters Shot, Two Killed While Battling House Fire in West Webster, NY

Updated: Dave Statter posted chilling audio from the scene of the fire where Michael Chiapperini & Tomasz Kaczówka were killed. Listen to that here. Injured Firefighter has calm radio transmission and asks for EMS due to bullet wounds.

I first posted about this shooting on The Fire Critic Facebook page this morning. More information is coming out of West Webster, NY as the events unfold. Four firefighters have been shot along with an off duty police officer. Two of those firefighters are dead after an unknown gunman opened fire at a house fire in Webster, NY.

Update: Next press release update at 2pm.

Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering identified the four firefighters and one off duty police officer shot this morning, including the two firefighters who died. All four of the firefighters are members of the West Webster Fire Department.

The Firefighters killed:  

Michael Chiapperini – volunteer with West Webster FD and Lt. with the Webster PD.

Tomasz Kaczówka – volunteer with West Webster FD

The firefighters injured:

Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino are the two other firefighters were shot and are listed in guarded condition.

Off-duty Greece police officer John Ritter, was also injured by shrapnel.

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Update:

WHEC.com:

The West Webster Fire Department was called to the area for the report of a structure fire on Lake Road just before 6:00am. As the firefighters arrived to the fire, there was gunfire and four firefighters were shot. Two of them died from their injuries.

News reports from WHAM-TV have identified the firefighters shot as belonging to the West Webster Fire Department. The original reports placed the incident in nearby Webster, NY. Details are still emerging from the area. The West Webster FD web site is here. The confusion is understandable and I attempt to offer the most factual information available. This often means holding off to get the correct information. While the news channel above has identified the firefighters as being from West Webster, we have yet to see anything official from the department(s) involved.

West Webster FD has three pages on Facebook. Station 1, Station 2, and Station 3.

All apologies for incorrectly using the NJEFD/Webster patch.

DemocratandChronicle.com:

At least two Webster firefighters are dead, and three houses on Lake Road continue to burn after a gunman open fired on firefighters who responded to an early morning fire.

The fire broke out before 6 a.m. on the 100 block of Lake Road on the Irondequoit Bay side of the street.

Links:

Photo from DemocratandChronicle.com