In the early morning of December 24, 2012, William Spengler, a 62-year-old man living in West Webster, New York, a suburb of Rochester, deliberately set his home and vehicle on fire.

According to police, Spengler set his house on 191 Lake Road and the family car on fire in the early morning hours of Christmas Eve, and then armed himself with three guns: a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver, a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun, and a .223-caliber Bushmaster AR-15 style rifle.

[6][7][8] Due to the shooting, fire crews were unable to resume fighting the blaze until 11:30 a.m. By then, six other houses had burned to the ground, and two others had been rendered uninhabitable.

[4] In addition to the two wounded firefighters, police officer Jon Ritter was slightly injured when a bullet hit the windshield of his car.

Before the day was out, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms discovered that the Bushmaster rifle and the shotgun had been purchased in June 2010 at Gander Mountain in Henrietta, another Rochester suburb.

However, according to investigators, Nguyen texted a Monroe County sheriff's deputy the next day and admitted buying the guns for Spengler in an illegal straw purchase.

[15] In a statement, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said, "All of our thoughts and prayers go to the families and friends of those who were killed in this senseless act of violence.