Metro

Police arrest woman who bought rifle for fire-slay lunatic upstate

William Spengler. A gunman who spent 17 years in prison for murder ambushed and killed two volunteer firefighters and wounded two others.

William Spengler. A gunman who spent 17 years in prison for murder ambushed and killed two volunteer firefighters and wounded two others. (REUTERS)

State police have arrested a gal-pal of crazed gunman William Spengler Jr. for buying him the rifle he used to shoot four firefighters during a fatal Christmas Eve attack in Upstate New York.

Dawn Nguyen, a neighbor of Spengler, allegedly purchased the .223 Bushmaster AR-15 and at least one other long-gun for the wild-eyed manic in 2010, knowing full well that he couldn’t buy the guns himself because he was a convicted felon, sources said.

Nguyen was nabbed at 1 p.m. at her house in Greece, NY, and charged with falsifying business records in the first degree and knowing making false statements in the purchase of a fire arm, sources said.

Spengler deliberately set a fire at his family’s home in the Rochester suburb of Webster, NY, on Monday and then shot four firemen who responded to the blaze. Two of them died.

He also killed his 67-year-old sister, Cheryl, whose body was found in the home.

Spengler ended his attack by blowing his own brains out. In addition to the Bushmaster — which was the same gun used in horrific Newtown, Conn. school shooting — a 12-gague shotgun and a .38 revolver were found at the killing scene.

Spengler had been barred from owning guns after serving 17 years in prison for the 1980 murder of his grandmother.

After the attack Spengler left behind a note that said: “I still have to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down and do what I like doing best: killing people.”