A man who set a wildfire and then fatally shot two firefighters and wounded another in northern Idaho was a 20-year-old transient who attacked the first responders after they asked him to move his vehicle, a sheriff said.
Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris offered new details about the Monday ambush at Canfield Mountain just north of Coeur d’Alene, a popular recreation area. He said Wess Roley was living out of his vehicle, had once aspired to be a firefighter and had only a handful of minor contacts with area police.
“We have not been able to find a manifesto,” the sheriff said, adding a motive was still unknown.
Norris said families of the victims were “in shock — absolutely. They’re in shock and they’re still processing it”.
Roley had set a fire using flint, and the firefighters who rushed to the scene instead found themselves in an unexpected shootout. They took cover behind fire trucks, but two died and a third was wounded during a barrage of gunfire over several hours.
Roley later killed himself, Norris said.
“We know that he was a transient here,” the sheriff said. “We know he lived here for the better part of 2024. But as far as when he got here, why he was here, why he chose this place — I don’t know.”
Two helicopters converged on the area, armed with snipers ready to take out the suspect if needed, while the FBI used his cellphone data to track him, and the sheriff ordered residents to shelter in place. They eventually found Roley dead in the mountains, his firearm beside him.
Roley’s grandfather, Dale Roley, told KXLY-TV that his grandson was an avid hiker who worked for a tree company and was interested in forestry.
Outpouring of support for the victims was swift in Coeur d’Alene, a city of 55,000 residents near the border with Washington.
Hours after the ambush, people gathered along Interstate 90 holding American flags to pay their respects as the two fallen firefighters’ bodies were taken to the medical examiner’s office in Spokane, Washington, about 56km from Coeur d’Alene.
Governor Brad Little ordered US and Idaho state flags to be lowered to half-staff to honour the firefighters until the day after their memorial service.
“All our public safety officers, especially our firefighters, bravely confront danger on a daily basis, but we have never seen a heinous act of violence like this on our firefighters before,” he said in a statement. “This is not Idaho. This indescribable loss is felt deeply by all those in the firefighting community and beyond.”
The Idaho House Republican Leadership said in a statement: “We are horrified by the murder of two firefighters in Coeur d’Alene, and shocked by such a vicious attack on our first responders. We are praying for them, the injured, their families and their colleagues.”
Although the shelter-in-place order was lifted, the sheriff’s office cautioned residents to be prepared because the fire was still burning. Firefighters were still battling the blaze Tuesday, a task made difficult because it was burning in steep terrain, which limited the use of heavy equipment, the Idaho Department of Lands said in a news release. It had burned about 10.5 hectares.
Fire was always a concern for the region, said Bruce Deming, whose property abutted the trail system. When he noticed smoke on the ridge on Monday, he wondered why no firefighting helicopters were responding.
When a friend texted to tell him about the shooting, he realised why he wasn’t seeing aircraft: “Because they’re concerned about being shot at,” he said.
