WEBSTER, NY — The son of one of the volunteer firefighters killed Monday learned that his father had been killed via emergency-radio chatter as the horrifying attack was in progress.
Volunteer firefighter Michael Chiapperini’s 19-year-old son, Nick — also a volunteer fireman — was working as a 911 ambulance dispatcher when the calls starting pouring in.
“Nick heard everything on the radio. He heard Joe [Hofsetter] hollering for help,” said Jim Becker, 74, the traffic-control director with the West Webster Fire Department, referring to a wounded survivor of the attack.
“[Nick] came over to our house at 6 in the morning, pounded on the door, came in and told my wife, ‘That f–ker shot my dad. He’s dead, lying in the road,’ ” Becker told The Post. “Nick is having a tough time.”
Michael Chiapperini, 43, known as “Chip,” was also a lieutenant with the Webster police. He also left behind two daughters and a wife.
Webster firefighters, meanwhile, stood vigil as a hearse carrying the body of madman William Spengler Jr.’s second victim, 19-year-old Tomasz Kaczowka, drove by.
Kaczowka had trained to be a firefighter under Chiapperini and was friends with Nick, Becker said.
Kaczowka, a 911 dispatcher and Monroe Community College student, will be laid to rest next week.