Wess Roley, alleged sniper accused of setting Idaho fire before killing two firefighters, ID'd in eerie photo
The sniper who shot dead two firefighters in an ambush in Idaho was identified by officials Monday as 20-year-old Wess Roley — and an eerie photo shows him aiming a sinister glare into the camera.
Roley's body was found near his weapon at the scene of a fire he started Sunday afternoon to lure the unsuspecting smoke-eaters to the scene, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press.
He ended up killing two responding firefighters and critically wounding a third, authorities said.
It is unclear whether Roley was eventually killed by a cop's bullet or took his own life, Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris told reporters at a press conference.
7 Wess Roley was identified as the gunman suspected of starting a fire before fatally shooting two firefighters in Idaho.
7 Police respond to a shooting at Canfield Mountain, Idaho.
AP
7 People pay their respects to those killed in a shooting in Idaho.
AP
The chaos began around 2 p.m. on Canfield Mountain, just north of Coeur d'Alene, when smoke started pouring from the woods and first responders rushed to the scene — only to be met by a hail of gunfire coming from the trees.
Firefighters quickly realized they'd been lured into a psychotic trap and desperately called for backup, according to terrifying 911 calls they made from the scene.
'I'm pinned down,' a firefighter said in the frantic call. 'It's clear to me that this fire was set intentionally to draw us in.
7 A procession to honor the firefighters killed in Idaho on Sunday, June 29, 2025.
AP
'We need law enforcement up here immediately,' he said. 'We have another Coeur d'Alene firefighter down. … We've got two unresponsive battalion chiefs down, multiple gunshot wounds, two Coeur d'Alene are down.'
The fire was left to burn as reinforcements battled to root out the unseen gunman, before the gunfire eventually stopped and Roley's body was tracked down in the trees using cellphone information.
7 Smoke from the fire started before firefighters were ambushed.
AP
Neither of the two firefighters killed have been identified yet, while a third firefighter was left 'fighting for his life' after he was struck by a bullet. He is now in stable condition.
A motivation behind the twisted attack remains unclear, but internet sleuths have identified a chilling possible connection to a decades-old incident involving the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department and neo-Nazis.
7 An armored police vehicle leaves an area where multiple firefighters were attacked when responding to a fire on Canfield Mountain.
REUTERS
Sunday's incident happened 24 years to the day after a 2001 burning of an Aryan Nations compound in Hayden Lake — just 7 miles north of Coeur d'Alene — during a fire training operation.
The cabin and its compound had been sold to the department after the Aryan Nations' national leader, Richard Butler, filed for bankruptcy over a settlement involving the shooting of a Native American woman and her son — and the site was torched by the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department during a training exercise.
7 Smoke is seen rising after a fire was started outside Coeur d'Alene in Idaho.
REUTERS
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'I do not think it is a coincidence that on this date in 2001, firefighters in Coeur d'Alene burned down the Aryan Nation founder's compound in a training exercise after he lost the property in a federal bankruptcy sale. The tragic current events are unfolding nearby,' one suspicious sleuth wrote in a post on X on Sunday.
So far no connection has been made between Roley and white supremacy movements.
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Two slain Idaho firefighters identified as shooter's father comments on 'horrible' killings
Jun. 30—The suspect and victims in the brazen shooting on a mountain that killed two Idaho firefighters and injured another have been identified. The victims were Battalion Chief Frank Harwood, 42, of Kootenai County Fire and Rescue; and Coeur d'Alene Fire Department Battalion Chief John Morrison, 52, officials said at a news conference Monday. Morrison had been with Coeur d'Alene Fire since 1996, while Harwood had been with Northern Lakes 17 years, officials said. "These men were dedicated firefighters," a fire official said at the news conference. The ambush also critically injured 47-year-old firefighter Dave Tysdal, who had undergone two surgeries as of noon Monday, officials said. Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris identified the suspect Monday as 20-year-old Wess Roley. Reached outside his home north of Priest River Monday afternoon, Roley's father, Jason Roley, called the killings "a tragedy." "I feel really sorry for the families of the firefighters," he said. "It's just horrible. I can't imagine he would ever do anything what they're saying happened." Investigators still have yet to find a motive for the killings — the younger Roley did not leave a manifesto after he died by suicide on Canfield Mountain following the shootout, Norris told reporters at a news conference Monday. An Instagram photo of Wess Roley in which he is pictured clad in camouflage gear and face paint with Bjork's "Hunter" playing over the post was then distributed by the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office. "These social media posts are what we call open-source information," Norris said. "This is all an effort to find out intent." Jason Roley said he last heard from his son about a month ago, when all was well. He was working for a tree company in Coeur d'Alene. "What's being said right now, it just seems insane to me, he's not like that," Jason Roley said. "There's got to be more to the story." The secluded Roley residence was adorned with an American flag next to one that partially read "Veteran." Jason Roley said he wasn't aware his son had any firearms. "He's never killed anything," he said, ending the interview by saying he and his wife were headed to church. There is evidence Wess Roley wanted to be a firefighter at one point, Norris said, but investigators have not come across any interactions with local firefighters of note or whether it had anything to do with the attack. The shooting suspect also had no criminal history and no survivalist training, but grew up in a family of arborists who climbed trees living in California, Arizona and Idaho for periods of time. Law enforcement believe Roley started the now-26-acre fire on Canfield Mountain to lure firefighters in what they are describing as an "ambush-style attack." Coeur d'Alene Fire Department and Kootenai County Fire and Rescue crews arrived at 1:21 p.m. to the report of the blaze and found Wess Roley. The firefighters, now identified as Harwood and Morrison, had a "discussion" with him and asked Roley to move his truck. At 2 p.m., fire crews reported they were being shot. It's believed future responders were being targeted from a tree that Wess Roley had perched himself in, Norris said, because law enforcement was also "engaging in gunfire" in the same direction. "These firefighters didn't have a chance," Norris told reporters Sunday night. Wess Roley's truck is still in the middle of an active crime scene partly torched from the wildfire. Investigators haven't recorded an inventory of his truck yet, Norris said. The truck is lying in an embankment after deputies pushed it over a cliff so the suspect couldn't circle back around during the shootout and drive away. Investigators eventually discovered a phone signal on the mountain that had been there since around 3:16 p.m. When they traced the phone, they found Wess Roley, dead with a shotgun underneath him. Law enforcement had to act quickly to remove his body because the wildfire was encroaching at high speeds, Norris has said. It took about an hour and a half to recover him from the mountain. Wess Roley, who had been in the area "for the better part of 2024," was also known to police, but not for anything criminal in nature — the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office has had three "interactions" with Wess Roley, and the Coeur d'Alene Police Department reported two. Each interaction was very minimal, like trespassing or a welfare check. Wess Roley was cooperative during these interactions, Norris said. Wess Roley's Instagram username is no longer available online. Norris said the account was wiped, but not by law enforcement. At the time of the attack, social media users took the scanner traffic and posted it as it came through on Facebook. Some mistakenly reported a deputy had been shot, and others posted the audio of the scanner traffic as it came through, before any information was confirmed by officials. "That is really hard on the families," Norris said. "Had they heard that, they would be able to identify their voice of their loved one." Coeur d'Alene-area residents strolling Monday morning through McEuen Park downtown wanted answers on the shocking attack and asked for prayers for the firefighters who were killed and injured. Curt Polley said the city has seen "very little crime" in his 37 years living there. "This is, like, a big deal," said Polley, adding how the shooting has garnered worldwide attention. "Now, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, has become front page." "It's kind of sad, 'cause it's going to give us kind of a bad rap," he added. Rick and Carol Wadholm, of Hayden, simply wondered why the killings happened. "For our guys to do their job, for someone waiting for them to hurt them, I'm sorry, but it's beyond my imagination," Carol Wadholm said. "I don't understand why. Why, you know, and now families are without loved ones." She said they heard the news from a friend, whose son and grandson were called to provide water to help firefighters battle the blaze. "He died for nothing; just to be hateful I guess," Rick Wadholm said of the suspect. His wife added, "and hurt families." Rick Wadholm said firefighters know the risks of the job, "but shot at? No. That's what policemen do." An earlier version of this story misstated Chief Harwood's department. Elena Perry's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.
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Chilling image shows Idaho firefighter ambush suspect in war paint before deadly attack
Authorities on Monday released a social media picture of the suspect in the Idaho firefighter shooting and identified the firefighters who were killed and injured in the ambush. The suspect, 20-year-old Wess Roley, was seen in a picture posted to his Instagram story wearing black face paint and camouflage clothing with a bandolier on his waist, authorities shared at a news conference. Roley, who was found dead near the scene of the shooting hours after the attack that killed two firefighters and injured another, is believed to have killed himself, according to Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris. The firefighter victims in the attack were identified at the news conference. Frank Harwood and John Morrison were killed, while Dave Tisdale is hospitalized in stable condition. The suspect is believed to have deliberately set a brush fire on Canfield Mountain, near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on Sunday to lure in first responders arriving to put out the blaze. The suspect was found to be in possession of a Flint starter that Norris said Monday was believed to be used to ignite the fire. Fire crews responded to the blaze at around 1:30 p.m., and gunshots were reported about a half-hour later. In audio from the scene, a firefighter said there was an "emergency situation" and an "active shooter at a fire." "We need law enforcement up here immediately," the firefighter told a dispatcher, adding that there were "two battalion chiefs down." "We have another Coeur d'Alene firefighter down ... we've got two unresponsive battalion chiefs down, multiple gunshot wounds, two Coeur d'Alene are down ... I'm pinned down," the caller continued. The caller also said that the fire "was set intentionally to draw us in." "It's clear to me that this fire was set intentionally to draw us in," the caller said. Law enforcement launched a manhunt, tracking the suspect through the terrain. Using cellphone data, a tactical team located Roley's body and a firearm several hours later in a wooded area near the origin point of the fire. Idaho Governor Brad Little condemned the incident as "a heinous, direct assault on our brave firefighters" and pledged full state support for the investigation. "They answered the call to protect others and paid the ultimate price," Little said. The motive behind Roley's actions remains unclear, and Norris said Monday that no manifesto has been found. Federal authorities, including the FBI, are assisting in the investigation. "We have information that he at one time wanted to be a firefighter," Norris said. "So we don't know if there's a nexus to that desire. And what happened yesterday. But, there is information that we've received that he at one time wanted to be a firefighter." Norris said there had been five law enforcement interactions with Roley, which he said were very minor in nature, such as trespassing incidents. Roley had an interaction with firefighters before shooting about where his car was parked, the sheriff said. It appeared that the suspect was living in his vehicle, Norris noted. "We know that he was a transient here," the sheriff said. "We knew that he lived here for the better part of 2024. But as far as when he got here, why he was here, why he chose this place. I don't know. He has relatives in the Priest River area, but I don't know why he chose that. We don't find any nexus to anything else. Maybe we'll find more once we do an inventory of the vehicle. But as of right now, we don't know."
