WEBSTER — Funeral services are under way for a 19-year-old volunteer firefighter slain during a Christmas Eve ambush in a Rochester suburb.
Hundreds of mourners, many of them uniformed firefighters, have filled St. Stanislaus Church in Rochester for the funeral of Tomasz Kaczowka. Kaczowka’s flag-draped casket arrived atop a fire truck and was carried in to the church shortly before 10:30 a.m. Monday, proceeded by a procession of bagpipers and drummers.
The service comes a day after the funeral of fellow firefighter Michael Chiapperini.
Both men were shot dead by William Spengler in the pre-dawn of Christmas Eve. Spengler lured first responders into a deadly trap by setting fire to his house on the shore of Lake Ontario in Webster and lying in wait with an arsenal. Spengler committed suicide.