The suspect believed to have fatally shot two firefighters and wounded a third on Sunday while crews responded to a raging brush fire in northwest Idaho was identified by law enforcement officials on Monday as Wess Roley — a man whose family says dreamed of one day becoming a firefighter himself.
Roley, 20, is suspected of intentionally setting the fire to “ambush” firefighters, authorities said. His body was found with a gun in the area of the blaze in Canfield Mountain near Coeur D’Alene, authorities said almost six hours after the shooting began.
The attack stunned some members of Roley’s family as his name began circulating in news reports on Monday, and they initially thought he could have been at the scene as a volunteer. His grandfather, Dale Roley, told NBC News that “something must have snapped” for his grandson to have committed such violence, particularly against firefighters.
“He actually really respected law enforcement,” Roley said. “He loved firefighters. It didn’t make sense that he was shooting firefighters. Maybe he got rejected or something.”
Preliminary information indicates the suspect acted alone in the shooting Sunday, and officials have not yet identified a motive.
Dale Roley said his grandson, who attended high school in Phoenix, where his mother lives, lived with him in Oklahoma for several months before moving to Idaho last summer to be closer to his father. Neither parent could immediately be reached for comment.
His grandfather said Wess Roley’s height, standing around 5-foot-8, might have prevented him from becoming a firefighter.
“I know he had been in contact to get a job with a fire department,” Dale Roley said. “He wanted to be part of a team that he sort of idolized.”
He added that his grandson had worked at a tree service and thought he had the proper tree-climbing skills to be an asset to a fire department fighting wildfires. He also knew how to use a firearm and would go hog hunting.
There were times Wess Roley appeared “nervous” and “high strung” and “kind of a loner” — what his grandfather chalked up as “normal issues for kids these days.” But, he added, he didn’t know him to be violent with others.
More recently, Wess Roley had lost his phone, his grandfather said, so getting in contact with him had become difficult. That made his life more of a mystery.
“We didn’t know where he was working,” Dale Roley added.
“He did have a lot of heart,” the grandfather said, describing him as someone who was looking for his next path in life.
“I feel real terrible for those killed,” he added.
Officials have not publicly identified the two slain firefighters. One was from the Coeur D’Alene Fire Department, and the other was from Kootenai County Fire and Rescue, authorities said.
Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said Sunday that the third firefighter was stable but “fighting for his life” in the hospital.
Calls of a brush fire first came in at 1:21 p.m. local time. At 2 p.m., firefighters reported that they were being shot at.
Around 300 law enforcement officers, including local and federal forces, were involved in the operation to find the shooter.
Authorities said some officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect, although it was not immediately clear if police killed him. Idaho State Police said it would investigate the shooting, and the local coroner would examine the causes of death.
The Nettleton Gulch Fire in Canfield Mountain reportedly grew to about 20 acres overnight, and crews were expected to continue battling the blaze on Monday.
Bruce Mattare, chairman of the Kootenai County board of county commissioners, said at a news conference Sunday that it would be a day the community, nestled in Idaho’s panhandle, “will not forget.”
“I cannot fathom why anyone would commit such a heinous act,” he said. “This kind of senseless violence is unheard of here.”
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