2 Firefighters (Heroes) Shot/Killed

[Donovan]

They're denying it and saying he stole the weapons, but the details are sketchy. Should be interesting.

[QueenBee]

From what I heard on the local news this evening, they have arrested a 25 year old woman. She allegedly went WITH the shooter to Gander Mtn. Sports in Henrietta ( a southern suburb of Rochester, Webster is north). She claimed that the guns she was purchasing were for her own use and posession.
She has not yet been arraigned.



Dawn Nguyen, of Greece, faces a federal charge of knowingly making a false statement, U.S. Attorney William Hochul said. She also was charged with a state count of filing a falsified business record, State Police Senior Investigator James Sewell said.

Sewell said the charges are connected to the purchase of an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun that William Spengler had with him Monday when firefighters Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka were gunned down. Three other people were wounded before the 62-year-old Spengler killed himself. He also had a .38-caliber revolver, but Nguyen is not connected to that gun, Sewell said.

Hochul said Nguyen bought the guns on June 6, 2010, on behalf of Spengler, who as a convicted felon was barred from possessing weapons.

"She told the seller of these guns, Gander Mountain in Henrietta, that she was to be the true owner and buyer of the guns instead of William Spengler," he said. "It is absolutely against federal law to provide any materially false information related to the acquisition of firearms."

"It is sometimes referred to acting as a straw purchaser and that is exactly what today's complaint alleges," Hochul said.

The .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle, which had a combat-style flash suppressor, is similar to the one used by the gunman who massacred 20 children and six women in a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school earlier this month.

Nguyen and her mother, Dawn Welsher, lived next door to Spengler in 2008.

Spengler set a car on fire and touched off an inferno in his Webster home on a strip of land along the Lake Ontario shore, took up a sniper's position and opened fire on the first firefighters to arrive at about 5:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve, authorities said. He wounded two other firefighters and an off-duty police officer who was on his way to work.

A Webster police officer who had accompanied the firefighters shot back at Spengler with a rifle in a brief exchange of gunfire before the gunman killed himself.

Spengler spent 17 years in prison for killing his grandmother in 1980.

Investigators still haven't released the identity of remains found in William Spengler's burned house. They have said they believe the remains are those of his 67-year-old sister, Cheryl Spengler, who also lived in the house near Rochester and has been unaccounted for since the killings. The Spengler siblings had lived in the home with their mother, Arline Spengler, who died in October. In all, seven houses were destroyed by the flames.

Investigators found a rambling, typed letter laying out Spengler's intention to destroy his neighborhood and "Do what I like doing best, killing people."

He had been released from parole in 2006 on the manslaughter conviction, and authorities said they had had no encounters with him since.

The federal charges carry a maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000 or both

[Midwest Spy]

Bushmaster is thinking of launching a new Ad Campaign for their .223 AR-15.

With its recent success of unleashing carnage, Bushmaster is hoping for a spike in sales.

So, for creative folks, they're hoping you'll submit a catchy tag line for the new campaign.

Any good ones out there?

How bout this one:

'they say guns don't kill people... at Bushmaster we beg to differ.'

[HairOfTheDog]

Straw Purchaser Convicted



Dawn Nguyen ^ was convicted of first-degree falsification of a business record. She was accused of lying on a firearms transaction form in 2010, when she bought a rifle and shotgun at Gander Mountain in Henrietta. She claimed on the form that the guns were for herself. Authorities said the guns were not for her, but her neighbor, William Spengler Jr. Essentially, she was convicted of straw purchasing.

Spengler, a convicted felon who was therefore prohibited from buying or possessing a firearm, then used the guns that Nguyen bought for him in the ambush and shooting murders of the two New York firefighters on Christmas Eve 2012.

Nguyen was denied bail and is being held until her sentencing on May 19 -- she faces a maximum of four years. However, she is also looking at federal charges for an illegal purchase of the firearms, selling to a known felon and an unlawful use of marijuana. There is no trial date set in that case.

It's good to see straw purchase laws being enforced. Hopefully, that will deter some people from providing guns to convicted felons and others who aren't qualified to own guns.