State Police have shot and killed Kurt Myers, the suspect in shootings that killed four people and injured two others in Herkimer and Mohawk, New York.
Shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday, State Police, FBI and a K-9 unit entered the former Glory Days bar in Herkimer where Myers had been in hiding for nearly 16 hours and had at times exchanged fire with police.
UPDATE 4:07 p.m. EST: Authorities have identified the gunman as William Spengler, an ex-convict who spent 17 years in prison for murdering his 92-year-old grandmother in 1980.
Spengler was paroled for the crime in 1998.
Police also have not located Spengler's 67-year-old sister, who lived in the house with Spengler.
Authorities also report that a total of seven houses were destroyed in the blaze.
UPDATE 12:40 p.m. EST: Police chief Gerald Pickering says that the gunman, who was killed at the scene, either by police or from a self-inflicted wound, may have set a trap for first responders.
UPDATE 12:15 p.m. EST: The Associated Press is reporting that the gunman who killed the two firefighters is also dead. His body was found at the scene. The names of the two deceased firefighters, according to the Democrat and Chronicle, are Mike Chiapperini, 43, a volunteer firefighter and the Webster Police Department’s public information officer, and Tomasz Kaczowka. The names of the wounded firefighters are Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino.
Early Monday morning two firefighters were shot and killed when responding to a call in Webster, New York, just outside Rochester. After the firefighters arrived at 191 Lake Road, an unknown shooter fired at them as they left their truck, killing two of them and wounding two others. The wounded men are at a nearby hospital; one is in stable condition, the other is in guarded condition.
December 14, 2012 In the wake of the devastating shootings in Newtown, Conn. this morning, we're all left wondering why and how this act of senseless violence could possibly happen. Celebrities from across the country have been tweeting and posting Facebook updates about the shootings all morning. This is what some of them have said about today's harrowing incident.
