The man that the authorities believe that two Firefighters from Idaho were triggered fatally before suicide once he tried to enter the army and left a note addressed to his father in which he wrote that “he would go to the battle,” said the Kootenai County Sheriff on Tuesday.
Wess Roley, 20, set fire to the Canfield mountain near Coeur d’Airne on June 29 and then opened fire on the firefighters who responded, authorities said, in what they have described as an ambush. Later he committed suicide.
Roly had tried to enter the US Army in Arizona in 2023 and again in Idaho in 2024, but never followed the appointments and was disqualified, said the Sheriff’s Office of Kootenai County at a press conference on Tuesday.
He had also entered a Coeur D’Air fire station in May and asked about becoming a firefighter, believing that he could start that day, said Kootenai County Sheriff, Bob Norris.
When they told him that there was a process, which includes evidence and interviews, Roley was frustrated and “it was described when he went there in a very, frustrated and agitated state,” Norris said.
A letter written was found in Roley’s truck aimed at his father, Norris said at Tuesday’s press conference. The researchers found a drawing in their home with what seemed to be a shotgun with the words “Kill Kill Kill,” he said.
“Tomorrow I will go to battle, if I would survive, it would be with the maximum dishonor,” said the letter found in the truck in part, Norris said, showing an image of the document. The letter also said: “I said goodbye.”
Around 1 in the afternoon of the shooting day, Roley “committed a fire caused by turning on a series of fires to start a response from the local firefighters departments,” Norris said.
Around 1:40 pm, the firefighters asked Rooy to move their truck and “the contact is described as confrontational,” Norris said.
Around 1:50 pm, Role shot and wound from Coeur d’Airne Fuel/Engineer David Tysdal, Norris said.
“Within the milliseconds”, then fatally shot the Chief of Battalion of Firefighters of Coeur D’Airne, John Morrison and the head of the Fire Battalion and rescue from Kootenai County, Frank J. Harwood, the Sheriff said.
Firefighters died instantly, Norris said. Roley’s body was seen by a drone around 6:53 pm in the very wooded area, and the authorities said he died of a self -inflicted gunshot wound.
“This was a premeditated ambush, a pure act of evil against the people we are looking for to help,” said Norris.
The investigation is still ongoing, he said.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or send a text message to 988, or go to 988lifeline.orgto achieve the suicide and crisis life line. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Life of Suicide Prevention, to 800-273-8255or visit Speakingofsuicide.com/resources.
