Two US firefighters shot dead

A convicted felon shot dead two firefighters and wounded two others on Monday after luring them to a blaze that police said he had apparently set as a trap in a small town in New York state.

The 62-year-old shooter -- who was found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 17 years for his grandmother's death in 1980 -- then fatally shot himself in the head, said police in Webster, a suburb of Rochester on the shores of Lake Ontario.

His sister, who lived with him, was nowhere to be found, according to police. Investigators had not yet determined the gunman's motive.

The incident, which comes as debate rages in the United States about gun control following the Newtown school massacre earlier this month, happened shortly before 6:00 am in a small lakefront residential community.

“It does appear that it was a trap that was set for our first responders,” Webster police chief Gerald Pickering told a press conference, his voice breaking with emotion.

“People who get up in the middle of the night to fight fires, they don't expect to get shot and killed,” he added.

“We are a safe community, a tragedy like this is just horrendous.” The firefighters were shot as they approached the scene of the blaze -- a car and a house engulfed in a fire that they now believe was set intentionally by the shooter, identified as William Spengler.

“Four of the firefighters were shot. Two are deceased, two were transported to area hospitals,” Pickering said.

The two injured men were not in critical condition and were both expected to recover. Another off-duty police officer who responded was also shot and wounded.

AFP