2 Firefighters were fatally shot while responding to a brushfire in Idaho. Here's what we know

By Karina Tsui, Cindy VonQuednow, Mark Morales, CNN

(CNN) — What began as a routine response to a brush fire on northern Idaho’s Canfield Mountain turned deadly Sunday after firefighters reported someone shooting at them while they battled the flames.

The gunman is believed to have started the fire so he could target the responding firefighters, officials said. Two firefighters were killed, and another was seriously injured.

“This was a total ambush. These firefighters did not have a chance,” Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said at a news conference Sunday night.

The attack prompted a massive emergency response and hourslong search for what was then an unknown number of shooters. The shots continued after law enforcement showed up.

Authorities later identified a single suspect as 20-year-old Wess Roley, a law enforcement official said. Law enforcement is still working on identifying a motive.

Here’s what else we know about the targeted attack:

How the shooting unfolded

The sheriff’s office received a call around 1:21 p.m. reporting a fire on the east side of Canfield Mountain in the city of Coeur d’Alene, Norris said.

At roughly 2 p.m., firefighters deployed to the scene reported they were being shot at on the mountain, prompting law enforcement agencies to assist them while the fire continued to burn.

“Send law enforcement right now, there’s an active shooter zone. They’re shot,” one firefighter was heard telling dispatch. “BC three is down. BC one is down. Everybody shot. Up here, law enforcement code three now up here.”

For the next 90 minutes, officers from various agencies, including the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho State Police and Coeur d’Alene Police Department, converged on the scene and were caught in an exchange of fire with what seemed like bullets from multiple directions, Norris said.

“We are actively taking sniper fire as we speak,” the sheriff said Sunday.

At the time, the sheriff told reporters that whoever was shooting seemed to be using “modern-day sporting rifles.”

“I’m hoping that somebody has a clear shot and is able to neutralize because they are not, at this point in time, showing any evidence of wanting to surrender,” he said.

Kootenai County Emergency Management issued a shelter-in-place order and asked residents to avoid the area.

At one point, deputies who responded to the shooting pushed the suspect’s vehicle down an embankment to “protect life,” Norris said during a news conference Monday. The deputies thought it was in their best interest to push the vehicle so the suspect couldn’t get in the vehicle and flee, Norris noted.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little urged people to stay away to allow law enforcement and firefighters to do their work.

“Multiple heroic firefighters were attacked today while responding to a fire in North Idaho,” Little said in a post on X. “This is a heinous direct assault on our brave firefighters. I ask all Idahoans to pray for them and their families as we wait to learn more. Teresa and I are heartbroken.”

Appears suspect spoke with firefighters before shooting

The suspect had “a discussion” with the firefighters who responded to the brush fire before he ultimately shot three of them, killing two, Norris said Monday.

Authorities also have reports that the suspect may have been shooting at first responders from a tree, he added.

“We don’t believe he was in the tree at the time (he talked to firefighters), but we believe he engaged deputies from the tree,” he said.

Norris said they are “still in the process of investigating” and didn’t provide details about the interaction between the shooter and firefighters.

While authorities can’t find evidence of any type of survivalist training, the suspect did grow up in an arborist family, where they climbed a lot of trees, the sheriff said.

The suspect’s grandfather told CNN that he was interested in being a firefighter, but Coeur d’Alene Fire Chief Tom Greif said Monday his department never got an application or interacted with Roley. Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Chief Christopher Way said they are still looking into whether he ever applied.

How the suspect’s body was located

About 300 law enforcement officials ended up taking part in the response to the attack, including the Idaho National Guard and the FBI. Two helicopters with law enforcement snipers were also deployed to assist in the manhunt, Norris said.

Around 7:40 p.m., a SWAT team located a “deceased male” on Canfield Mountain after officials traced a cell phone signal picked up earlier to the location. A firearm was found nearby, Norris said.

“We have one dead shooter,” Norris said at a Sunday evening news conference. “There is no threat to the community at this time.”

On Monday, Norris said it appears the suspect shot himself.

Authorities believe the man was the only shooter “based on the trajectory and based on the type of weapons that this individual had that we could recover,” the sheriff said.

Norris said the fire was “rapidly approaching” the scene where the body was found, forcing officers to “scoop everything up” quickly. Norris acknowledged they couldn’t “preserve the scene like traditionally we would like to,” but “we had to do what we had to do to preserve the body.”

The suspect, who was found with a weapon nearby, used a shotgun in his Sunday attack on firefighters, but investigators haven’t ruled out additional firearms of different classes as the investigation continues, according to Norris.

“We know that there was a shotgun used, absolutely, 100 percent,” he said. “We have some smaller projectiles, and we don’t know if that was a fragmentation of one of the rifle slugs or another weapon.” Initial reports from the scene were that firefighters were taking sniper fire.

When asked if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was able to use fragments to determine where Roley purchased the shotgun, the sheriff said they “haven’t gotten there yet” and that they are still processing the scene.

He was also in possession of a flint fire starter and authorities believe he used it to ignite the fire that firefighters initially responded to, Norris said.

Two firefighters killed, another recovering

A firefighter from the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department and another from Kootenai County were killed in the shooting, authorities said, while a third person who was injured is recovering from two surgeries.

Authorities named the two firefighters killed as Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Chief Frank Harwood, 42, and Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Battalion Chief John Morrison, 52.

Dave Tysdal, a 47-year old engineer who has been with the fire department for 23 years, is currently in critical condition at Kootenai Health Hospital, Coeur d’Alene Fire Chief Tom Greif said.

“We lost two outstanding professionals of the highest quality,” Kootenai County Commissioner Bruce Mattare told reporters, calling the shooting “senseless and tragic beyond words.”

“Their families need support,” Norris said.

Harwood, who was married with two children, was a member of the agency for 17 years and a former Army National Guard combat engineer, Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Chief Christopher Way said Monday.

Morrison served Coeur d’Alene for more than 28 years and moved up the ranks in his department from firefighter to battalion chief, Coeur d’Alene Fire Chief Tom Greif said.

Attack delayed response to the fire

Efforts to contain the fire were delayed while the suspect was at large, Norris said, adding that no structures were lost.

Now called the Nettleton Gulch Fire, the wildfire is currently burning 26 acres of land and hasn’t grown, Norris said during a news conference Monday.

Containing the fire is “a slow progess,” Norris said. “It’s very difficult terrain to get assets, ground assets up there. Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) is putting a lot of water on it from aerial supports, so that’s going rather well.”

IDL believes it will have a fire line, or a barrier that prevents a fire from spreading, around the blaze by nightfall on Monday, Norris said.

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