What is known about Wess Roley, the 20-year-old suspected of killing Idaho firefighters

COEUR D’ALENE (The Spokesman-Review) — The suspect in the brazen shooting on a mountain that killed two Idaho firefighters and injured another is 20-year-old Wess Roley, according to Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris.

The victims on Tuesday were identified at a news conference as Battalion Chief Frank Harwood, 42, of Northern Lakes Fire; and Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Battalion Chief John Morrison.

Investigators still have yet to find a motive for the killings — 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 Roley in which he is pictured clad in camouflage gear and face paint with the song “Hunter” by Bjork 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 to find out intent, find out if there was any other if there was a motive, or whatever the case may be.”

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There is evidence Roley wanted to be a firefighter at one point, but investigators have not come across any interactions with local firefighters that are of note or if 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 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 Roley. The firefighters had a “discussion” with him and asked Roley to move his truck. At 2 p.m., crews reported they were being shot.

It’s believed they were being targeted from a tree that Roley had perched himself in, Norris said, because law enforcement was also “engaging in gunfire” in the same direction. Two firefighters were killed in the shooting and another is “fighting for their life,” at a nearby hospital.

“These firefighters didn’t have a chance,” Norris told reporters Sunday night.

Roley’s truck is still in the middle of an active crime scene that is partly torched from the wildfire. Investigators haven’t recorded an inventory of his truck yet, Norris said. The truck is currently 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 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 said previously.

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 Roley and the Coeur d’Alene Police Department reported two. Each interaction was very minimal, like trespassing or a welfare check. Roley was cooperative during these interactions, Norris said.

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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.”