The suspect is believed to fatally fired two firefighters and wounded a third on Sunday, while the teams responded to a fire in the northwest of Idaho, the officials responsible for enforcing the law on Monday as Wess Roley, a man whose family says he dreamed with a day to become a firefighter.
It is suspected that Roley, 20, who is intentionally fire to “ambush” firefighters, authorities said. His body was encountered with a gun in the fire area in Canfield Mountain, near Coeur D’Alene, authorities said almost six hours after the shooting began.
The attack surprised some members of the Roley family when their name began to circulate in the news reports on Monday, and initially thought it could have been on the scene as a volunteer. His grandfather, Dale Roley, told NBC News that “something must have broken” so that his grandson has committed so much violence, particularly against firefighters.
“The police really respected,” Roley said. “I loved firefighters. It didn’t make sense that I was shooting firefighters. Maybe he was rejected or something.”
Preliminary information indicates that the suspect acted only in the shooting on Sunday, and officials have not yet identified a reason.
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. None of the parents could be contacted immediately to comment.
His grandfather said that the height of Wess Roley, about 5 feet and 8 inches, could have avoided him to become a firefighter.
“I know I had been in contact to get a job with a fire department,” said Dale Roley. “I wanted to be part of a team that idolized.”
He added that his grandson had worked in a tree service and thought he had the right skills to cut trees to be an asset for a fire department that fought against forest fires. I also knew how to use a firearm and go hunting pigs.
There were times when Roley appeared “nervous” and “tall” and “a bit lonely”, which his grandfather marked as “normal problems for children these days.” But, he added, I didn’t know it was violent with others.
More recently, Wess Roley had lost his phone, said his grandfather, so getting in touch with him had become difficult. That made his life more a mystery.
“We didn’t know where I was working,” added Dale Roley.
“He had a lot of heart,” said the grandfather, describing him as someone who was looking for his next path in life.
“I feel really terrible for those killed,” he added.
The officials have not publicly identified the two murdered firefighters. One was from the Fire Department of Coeur D’Alene, and the other was firefighters and rescue from Kootenai County, authorities said.
Kootenai County Sheriff, Bob Norris, said Sunday that the third fireman was stable but “fighting for his life” in the hospital.
The calls of a fire on the brush first arrived at 1:21 pm local time. At 2 in the afternoon, firefighters reported that they were shot.
Around 300 law agents, including local and federal forces, participated in the operation to find the shooter.
The authorities said some officers exchanged shots with the suspect, although it was not clear immediately if the police killed him. The State Police of Idaho said that he would investigate the shooting, and the local coroner would examine the causes of death.
According to the reports, Nettleton Gulch’s fire in Canfield Mountain grew to about 20 acres during the night, and the teams were expected to continue fighting the fire on Monday.
Bruce Mattare, president of the Kootenai County County Commissioner Board, said at a press conference on Sunday that it would be a day when the community, located at the Panhandle de Idaho, “will not forget it.”
“I can’t understand why someone would commit such an atrocious act,” he said. “This type of meaningless violence is unknown here.”
