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Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 7:45 AM UTC

Officials: NY gunman set ‘trap’ for firefighters

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Topics: From the Wires,

Officials: NY gunman set 'trap' for firefightersLake Rd. residents are evacuated from the neighborhood where two Webster firefighters were killed and two others wounded after a gunman opened fire at a blaze this morning at 191 Lake Road, officials said. Seven homes were destroyed. the gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.(Credit: Max Schulte)

WEBSTER, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities say a man who gunned down two firefighters after luring them to his neighborhood by setting fires had attracted little attention since he got out of prison in the 1990s for killing his grandmother.

Police say 62-year-old William Spengler took shots at police before committing suicide on Monday as several homes burned.

Authorities used an armored vehicle to help residents flee dozens of homes on the shore of Lake Ontario.

Besides the two firefighters who died, two others have been hospitalized and an off-duty officer who was passing by was injured.

Spengler served more than 17 years in prison for beating his 92-year-old paternal grandmother to death with a hammer in 1980 at the house next to where Monday’s attack happened. He was paroled in 1998.

By John Kekis

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  • The protests take on a festive element as police forces move out of the park and square. Wearing a gas mask, this young man dances to traditional Turkish music in front of Taksim Square’s Ataturk Monument.

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