The man suspected of fatally shooting two firefighters and wounding a third after luring them to a brush fire in northern Idaho on Sunday was identified by authorities as Wess Roley, 20.
Roley, who was found dead near the scene after appearing to have shot himself, is suspected of lighting the brush with a flint fire starter before ambushing the firefighting crew in a mountainous area of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. A motive in the attack remains unknown, but law enforcement officials believe the suspect was acting alone.
The suspect shot at the firefighters from a tree, police say. Investigators believe he used a shotgun in the attack, but didn’t rule out additional firearms, including a long rifle that Roley’s grandfather, Dale, told CNN that his grandson owned.
According to his grandfather, Roley wanted to become a firefighter and was actively pursuing the profession. Authorities said it appeared Roley was living in his vehicle before the attack.
“It wasn’t like he was a loner,” Dale Roley told CNN. “We had no reason to suspect that he would be involved in something like this.”
Authorities shared an image on social media showing Wess Roley wearing black face paint and camouflage attire with a bandolier holding multiple rounds of ammunition in preparation for the attack.
The three victims were identified as Frank Harwood, John Morrison, and Dave Tisdale. Harwood and Morrison were killed, while Tisdale remains in a stable condition after undergoing surgery.
Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris previously said the two killed were employed by the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department and Kootenai County Fire and Rescue.
Coeur d’Alene residents honored the two slain firefighters by participating in a miles-long procession that saw their bodies transported from the Kootenai County hospital to Spokane, Washington. The event drew a large turnout from the local community, with hundreds of residents gathering on overpasses above the travel route.
Harwood and Morrison’s bodies were taken from the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office back to Coeur d’Alene, where community members can pay their respects to the deceased.
In honor of the victims, Gov. Brad Little (R-ID) ordered the U.S. and Idaho flags to be lowered to half-staff in the state until the day after their memorial service, which has not yet been scheduled.
“All our public safety officers, especially our firefighters, bravely confront danger daily, but we have never seen a heinous act of violence like this on our firefighters before,” Little said. “This is not Idaho. This indescribable loss is felt deeply by all those in the firefighting community and beyond.”
The shooting began around 2 p.m. Sunday, with the firefighters reporting gunfire after calls of a brush fire started around 1:20 p.m., Norris said.
About 300 members of law enforcement responded to the scene. Officers used the gunman’s cellphone signal to determine his location.
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Law enforcement lifted a shelter-in-place order after the threat was neutralized. At the time, the raging wildfire prevented police from conducting a full search and investigation of the area.
In a Monday evening update, the Idaho Department of Lands said the Nettleton Gulch fire was contained within 26 acres of land and that no structures were at risk.