A 20-year-old Idaho man who fatally shot firefighters after luring them into an ambush once dreamed of becoming a fireman himself, police say.
Two firefighters, Frank Harwood and John Morrison, were killed and a third, Dave Tysdal, was injured after Wess Roley shot at them as they arrived at a blaze at Canfield Mountain, just north of Coeur d’Alene, on Sunday, officials say.
Authorities say Roley deliberately lit the fire to send emergency services to the area. The motive for the attack remains unclear.
After an hours-long standoff, a police Swat team discovered a dead man – identified as Roley – close to where the attack took place.
Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told a news conference on Monday that Roley had once aspired to be a fireman.
The suspect’s grandfather also told NBC News his grandson had “actually really respected law enforcement”.
Dale Roley said his grandson “had been in contact to get a job with a fire department”, and “wanted to be part of a team that he sort of idolised”.
“He loved firefighters,” said Mr Roley. “It didn’t make sense that he was shooting firefighters. Maybe he got rejected or something.”
Sheriff Norris said the homeless suspect had attacked fire crews after they asked him to move his vehicle, which he had been living in.
“There was an interaction with the firefighters,” Norris said. “It has something to do with his vehicle being parked where it was.”
Investigators believe Roley used a flint that was found near his body to deliberately start the fire.
“This was a total ambush,” Norris told reporters. “These firefighters did not have a chance.”
One firefighter who was killed worked for the city’s fire service, while another worked for Kootenai County Fire and Rescue.
A third was “fighting for his life, but is in stable condition”, Norris added.
Idaho’s governor ordered flags be flown at half-staff on Monday to honour the firefighters who were killed.
The first report of a fire in the mountainside community was made around 13:21 PST (20:21 GMT), which was followed 40 minutes later by reports firefighters were being shot at, Norris said.
The so-called Nettleton Gulch Fire grew to 26 acres and continued to burn on Monday, Norris said. No structures are threatened, and officials hope to have the blaze extinguished by Monday night.
More than 300 law enforcement officers from city, county, state and federal authorities responded to the shooting, including two helicopters with snipers on board.
Norris said authorities believed the suspect used a high-powered rifle to fire rapidly at first responders, with officers initially unsure of the number of assailants involved.
A shotgun has been recovered, and several bullets or fragments possibly from a rifle have been found. Officials say more guns may be hidden on the mountain.
After an hours-long barrage of gunfire, the suspect was found by tracing his mobile phone on the popular hiking trail, which officials said was being used by hundreds on that Sunday afternoon.
“It appears that he shot himself,” Norris told journalists.
The sheriff said the suspect had had five “very minor” interactions with police since moving to Idaho in 2024. He said that in one case, he was found to be trespassing at a restaurant by police.
In order to prevent the suspect from fleeing, officials disabled his vehicle and “pushed it off the mountain”, the sheriff said. They have not yet been able to access the vehicle for a more thorough search.
Several fire department vehicles also had their tyres flattened to prevent the suspect from driving away in one of them during the chaotic manhunt.
Norris ruled out the suspect having “any nexus to Islamic jihad”, which he said had been falsely suggested on social media.
According to a social media post from his mother, the suspect moved from Arizona to Idaho in 2023 to work for his father’s tree-trimming company.
She wrote in October 2024 that her son was “doing great living in Idaho”.
