A man who illuminated a fire before he shoots two firefighters and injured a third in northwestern Idaho was a 20-year-old passing who once dreamed of becoming a firefighter, the authorities said.
Sheriff Bob Norris van Kootenai County offered new details about the Sunday confrontation in Popular Canfield Mountain, just north of Coeur d’Alene.
After the ambush, a procession was held in the area. ((Hart van Alene Press Via AP: Bill Buley))
He said that Wess Roley, who lived out of his vehicle, once wanted to become a firefighter and only had a handful of small contacts with the area police.
“We were unable to find a manifesto,” said the sheriff, adding a motif was still unknown.
Sheriff Norris said that families of the victims are “in shock”.
“They still process it,” he said.
Schutter had ‘interaction’ with firefighters
Mr Roley had fueled the fire with the help of Flint, De Seriff said, but the firefighters who ran to the stage found themselves under fire instead.
They were looking for coverage behind fire trucks, but two died and a third was injured during a barrage of gunfire for a few hours.
De Sheriff said that Mr Roley attacked the first responds after they asked him to move his vehicle.
“There was an interaction with the firefighters. It has something to do with his vehicle parked where it was,” he said.
Mr Roley later killed himself, De Seriff said.
He had ties with California and Arizona and lived in Idaho “for the most part of 2024,” said Seriff Norris.
“But as far as he arrived here, why he was here, why he chose this place – I don’t know.”
Two helicopters came together in the area on Sunday, armed with snipers ready to shoot the suspect if necessary.
The FBI used Mr Roley’s mobile phone data to follow it, and the Sheriff ordered residents to protect in their place.
They eventually found the suspect death in the mountains, his firearm next to him.
‘I just called the police’
TJ Franks Jr, a resident of Sandpoint, Idaho, said he lived with Mr Roley for about six months while working for a tree service.
Mr. Franks had cameras in his apartment that threw Mr Roley one day that Bendborden threw at them, what Mr. Frank’s worries were to the point that he called the police.
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“I didn’t know what to think about it,” said Mr. Franks.
“I just called the police and let them talk to him.”
The landlord also called Mr. Franks one morning because Buren reported that Mr Roley’s vehicle had run for about 12 hours.
Franks said that Mr Roley slept in his room and said he had forgotten the vehicle.
TJ Franks JR used to live with Wess Roley. ((AP Photo: Manuel Valdes))
He said that his then household “began to behave a bit weird” and at one point his long hair completely shaved.
“We just noticed that he started to refuse or go a little downhill,” he said.
Exit of support for victims
Dale Roley, who is about an hour away from Coeur d’Alene, told KXLY TV that his grandson was an avid hiker who worked for a tree company and was interested in forestry.
The outpouring of support for the victims was quickly in Coeur d’Alene, a city of 55,000 inhabitants at the border with Washington.
There is an outpouring of support for the victims in Coeur d’Alene. ((Reuters: David Ryder))
Governor Brad Little ordered us and the flags of Idaho to be lowered to half the staff to honor the firefighters until the day after their memorial service.
“All our public safety officers, especially our firefighters, bravely confront DAY DAY DAY DAY,” he said in a statement.
“But we have never seen a horrible act of violence like this one on our firefighters earlier.”
AP
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