WEBSTER, N.Y. — 1:40 p.m. UPDATE
Police in New York state say a man who ambushed firefighters had served 17 years for manslaughter in the death of his grandmother.
Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering says 62-year-old William Spengler was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot in the head.
Police say he set fire to a car and house to lure firefighters to his house on the shore of Lake Ontario early Monday.
When firefighters arrived, he opened fire, probably with a rifle. Two firefighters died at the scene and two others were hospitalized. A fifth first responder was injured.
Police don’t know a motive yet.
EARLIER
A western New York police chief said Monday that a gunman who entrapped and shot four volunteer firefighters outside a blazing home is dead.
Pickering said two of the firefighters were killed and two others hospitalized after the ambush on a spit of land on Lake Ontario just northeast of Rochester.
He also said the gunman is dead and an off-duty police officer who was driving by has injuries from shrapnel. One of the slain firefighters is also a town police lieutenant.
The shooting Monday morning happened in a quiet neighborhood of seasonal and year-round homes.
Police say four homes in all were destroyed and four damaged by the spreading flames.
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.