Just over a year after the death of Binghamton Firefighter John “JR” Gaudet, members of the Binghamton Fire Department gathered at the Broome County Courthouse for the conclusion of a case that shocked the community.
Fire engines carried at least 20 members of the department, some donning dress uniforms, to the courthouse on April 6 for the sentencing of a man who pleaded guilty in connection with Gaudet’s death.
Firefighters filed into the seats of Broome County Court Judge Carol A. Cocchiola’s courtroom, but it remained quiet until Cocchiola took to the microphone and called Patrick K. Shea, 36, for sentencing.
Gaudet, an 11-year veteran of the department, was killed in a fire at 1 Main St. in Binghamton on Feb. 12, 2025. The fire, which quickly burned down the vacant structure, caused one of the walls to fall on top of him as he tried to quell the flames.
Shea, who does not have a permanent address, was initially indicted by a grand jury in March 2025 for second-degree murder and fourth-degree arson in connection with the fatal fire. In January, he accepted a plea deal and instead pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and fourth-degree arson.
The fire, Gaudet’s death and the circumstances surrounding Shea’s involvement have left many in the Binghamton community wondering what went wrong.
JR Gaudet’s father speaks in court
Before he began speaking, Charles Gaudet raised a copy of the Press & Sun-Bulletin with JR Gaudet’s picture on the front page, turned it around and showed the courtroom. In his other hand, he held a marble notebook with his son’s name on the cover. Being JR’s father, he said, “was an honor.”
On the night of JR Gaudet’s death, Charles Gaudet drove to 1 Main St. and tried to get close to the building when he was stopped by City of Binghamton Fire Department Deputy Chief Gerald Madden. It was a “smoky, cold, windy, hellish night,” he said, one he could never forget.
“In the fog of war, of the fire, I asked them repeatedly to tell me what happened,” he said. “They did the best they could, but they didn’t know exactly.”
JR Gaudet and his squad were “rushing” to the fire in the hopes they could stop it from traveling farther, Charles Gaudet said. They were “attacking in harm’s way” in order to protect others.
“I knew that JR had gone on to a higher plane and I lost it for a bit, but I managed to get it back,” he said. “It’s been a shock from the very beginning, but my first thought I wondered was, ‘How could this happen?'”
As a resident, Charles Gaudet said he took notice of the vacant buildings around the city and the possible safety risks they posed. He said he remembered having those thoughts as he drove past the former Masonic Temple on Main Street, and his son had mentioned the area at 1 Main St., calling the property “trouble.”
Now, as he looked at Shea in the courtroom, he said he was left with questions. He wondered how he ended up in the building at 1 Main St., how often similar fires were started and what the Binghamton community could do to “get these buildings closed.”
“We’re not looking to condemn people, but let’s look it in the face,” he said. “Let’s not just drive by like I did.”
Despite the loss of his son, Charles said he believes that what JR would want, and what he wants, is “fair due process” for Shea.
“The defendant today − the man who, in effect, murdered my son − has got what I believe is a fair due process,” he said. “As a practicing Catholic, as opposed to a good one, we believe, especially around Easter, in redemption. Everybody has a chance, hopefully more than one.”
He is still “looking for the details” and the answers to his questions about his son’s death. These questions, he said, he hopes he can ask Shea one day.
“In seven years, we can talk on that bridge and you can explain to me why,” he said.
What happened on Feb. 12, 2025
Broome County Senior Assistant District Attorney Alexander Czebiniak said JR Gaudet was “a pillar of the community” and “a hero.” In the months following Shea’s arrest, he had meetings with Gaudet’s family and his fellow firefighters in which they eventually agreed the plea deal was enough to “bring closure and justice.”
“The road that this case has traveled has led us to this date, to this time in this very courtroom,” Czebiniak said. “This road is paved fully by tragedy.”
In Shea’s address to the courtroom, he began by apologizing directly to the Gaudet family. He then thanked the fire department, saying he will “keep them in his thoughts and prayers.”
“I understand that my words may feel inadequate and that they may do more for me than you, but I am truly sorry,” he said.
Shea apologized to his parents, who were not in the courtroom, for the years of “stress, worry and pain” that his addiction caused him.
His addiction, he said, is a disease that has at times “completely consumed” his life and eventually led to him being homeless, bringing more “overwhelming challenges.”
On the night of Feb. 12, Shea said he went to 1 Main St. to check on belongings he had left inside. The friend he brought with him, he said, had been outside in the cold for two days. To escape the weather, Shea said he lit “a small fire” that he later put out before leaving.
“I never intended to harm anybody, especially not a firefighter,” he said. “I made a terrible mistake in that moment and I did not foresee the destruction I would cause.”
Czebiniak said Shea, who was a “former Eagle Scout and good student,” began using prescription drugs in high school. This addiction led to the use of harder drugs and, eventually, homelessness.
On Feb. 11, 2025, Shea went to 1 Main St. with another person to seek warmth and use drugs, according to Czebiniak. He did the same thing again the next day, lighting the fire and putting it out for the second time, Czebiniak said, but the wind reignited the embers and 1 Main St. was set ablaze.
“We know that the defendant did not mean to kill him, but there must be consequences, there must be accountability,” he said. “The defendant’s actions were reckless and it set a series of events into motion that caused the death of JR.”
‘Nothing will ever be the same’
Before delivering the sentence, Cocchiola said Shea’s statement and the pre-sentence memo she received “focus on his addiction,” positioning him “as a victim in some ways.” Shea, she said, is a victim of his own choices.
“What you did ended another human being’s life,” she said. “It may be difficult for you to admit that, truly admit that to yourself, perhaps over a year later you are willing to verbalize that truth, but it has to be more than words. You have to address your addiction, resolve to do whatever it takes to stay off the street or you will again risk the lives of others.”
Cocchiola said the fire was a “terrible, violent way” for Gaudet to die. The focus, she said, has been placed on the circumstances of his death rather than his life of “honor, dedication to public service, compassion and care for others.”
To the rows of firefighters in the courtroom, Cocchiola said she hopes the resolution of this case brings them peace.
“I know each and every one of you will honor JR Gaudet every day in your profession when you get that call out and you go running into the building when everyone else is running out,” she said.
For first-degree manslaughter, Cocchiola sentenced Shea to seven years in state prison and five years of post-release supervision. For fourth-degree arson, Shea will also serve one to three years, an indeterminate term, to be served concurrently.
After the sentencing, the group of firefighters gathered outside, shook hands with Charles Gaudet as well as JR Gaudet’s mother, Mary Ellen Gaudet, and went back to work. Binghamton Fire Lt. Chris Mallery, who waited outside the courthouse doors for a moment longer, said the decision brings closure, but “nothing will ever be the same.”
“It just makes you think about, not just JR, but that could happen to me,” he said. “Life’s short − live every day more like JR. He was a pillar of the community, a guy that would give you the shirt off his back − he would do anything for you. It’s very sad we don’t have him with us anymore, but we’ll do the best that we can to remember him and to live life more like he did.”
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: After Binghamton firefighter killed in arson, family calls for change
Reporting by Jillian McCarthy, Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin / Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
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