US gunman left note saying he likes to kill

WEBSTER

Spengler was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. AP photos

A convicted felon who committed suicide after shooting dead two firefighters he lured into an inferno wrote in a note that killing people was what he liked doing best, police said Dec. 25.

Authorities also said they found human remains at the scene of Dec. 24’s incident, a car and a house engulfed in a fire believed to have been intentionally set by the shooter, 62-year-old William Spengler.
“I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down and do what I like doing best, killing people,” read part of the note discovered in the wake of the shooting in the town of Webster in upstate New York, Police Chief Gerald Pickering told reporters.

He said the type-written note was two or three pages long, but would not be released at this time, Agence France-Presse reported.

Victim believed to be his sister

The human remains were found in the charred house that Spengler shared with his 67-year-old sister, Cheryl.

A medical examiner will need to determine the identity and cause of death because the body is badly burned.

Gerald Pickering said the victim was believed to be the gunman’s sister. A friend said Spengler hated his sister, but the police chief said the note did not give a motive, according to The Associated Press.
Police Chief Pickering said Spengler, who served 17 years in prison for the 1980 hammer killing of his grandmother, armed himself before he set his house on fire to lure first responders into a death trap before dawn on Christmas Eve.

Two firefighters were shot dead in the ambush, and two others were hospitalized in stable condition.
“He was equipped to go to war, kill innocent people,” Pickering added. He had a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver, a Mossberg 12-gauge pump action shotgun and a .223 Bushmaster rifle, the same military-type assault rifle used in the recent elementary school shooting in Connecticut that left 26 people dead.

Authorities said Spengler hadn’t done anything to bring himself to their attention since his parole.