Kansas City, Mo. ? The Kansas City man who shot at emergency crews responding to a house fire had given away property and possessions in the weeks before the February attack, police said Friday.

A paramedic, shot twice in the chest as she took cover behind an ambulance, survived.

The bodies of Donin Wright and his girlfriend, Janet Clark, were found in the rubble of their burned-out home amid thousands of rounds of exploded and unexploded ordinance.

But as bad as the attack was, police said it could have been much worse.

“We talked to a huge number of people during our investigation and bar none, everyone told us that Donin Wright is an expert shot. It is my belief that if Donin Wright would have wanted to kill a fireman, he very easily could have done it that day,” said police Sgt. John Jackson as he presented a timeline of the attack and events leading up to it.

Police started their timeline with Wright’s legal fight with the city over the construction debris he had illegally dumped behind a vacant house he owned across the street from his own home. He dumped the debris to shore up an eroding hillside.

He was cited for illegal dumping the first time in July 2002, pleaded guilty in August and was fined. But just one month later, he was fined again and requested a jury trial in Jackson County Circuit Court.

In September 2003, jurors convicted Wright, fined him $500 and sentenced him to jail. But the judge suspended the jail sentence with the understanding that Wright would remove the debris from his property or obtain a permit. Wright failed to comply and was given another court date in February of this year.

The month before the court appearance, police said Wright appeared to begin preparing for the attack, giving away property to relatives.

Neighbors said Wright’s family had owned a large tract of land and gradually sold it off. They said he was pushed to the edge by the codes violations.

Two days before the attack, Wright went with a friend to a liquor store where he asked the clerk for the best bottle of bourbon. The friend found the trip strange because she knew Wright had not had a drink of liquor in more than 20 years. While drinking with the woman and Clark, Wright told the woman, “When I’m gone, you will be the one I worry about.”

On the morning of the attack, neighbors told police they saw Wright carry several yellow trash bags to the vacant home. Wright and Clark also signed over the titles of two vehicles to a neighbor and asked the neighbor to move the vehicles from the property. During the conversation, Clark told the neighbor Wright wasn’t going to court, saying “We’ve made other plans.”

Around 1:30 p.m., a witness told police she called Wright and asked him what he was doing. He told her, “I’m getting ready to par-tay.”

Two hours later, police received the first report about the fire.