Firefighter Ambush Deaths: Charge Over Guns

A 24-year-old woman has been charged in connection with two weapons used by William Spengler when he killed two firefighters responding to a house fire in New York state.

New York State Police Senior Investigator James Sewell said Dawn Nguyen, of Rochester, faces a state charge of filing a falsified business record.

According to Mr Sewell, the charge relates to the purchase of an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun that Spengler had with him when firefighters Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka were gunned down on Monday.

Three other people were injured before the 62-year-old killed himself.

US attorney William Hochul said Nguyen is alleged to have bought the guns on behalf of Spengler - who as a convicted criminal was barred from possessing weapons - in June 2010.

"She told the seller of these guns, Gander Mountain in Henrietta, New York, that she was to be the true owner and buyer of the guns instead of William Spengler," Mr Hochul said.

"It is absolutely against federal law to provide any materially false information related to the acquisition of firearms. It is sometimes referred to acting as a straw purchaser and that is exactly what today's complaint alleges."

Nguyen and her mother, Dawn Welsher, lived next door to Spengler in 2008.

Spengler spent 17 years in prison for killing his grandmother in 1980.

The identity of remains found in the burnt-out home in Webster is still to be confirmed.

Investigators have said they believe the remains are those of Spengler's 67-year-old sister, Cheryl, who also lived in the house on the shore of Lake Ontario and has been unaccounted for since the killings.

The Spengler siblings had lived in the home with their mother, Arline Spengler, who died in October. In all, seven houses were destroyed by the flames.