Authorities have identified 20-year-old Wess Roley as the gunman who ambushed firefighters responding to a brush fire Sunday in Coeur d’Alene, killing two battalion chiefs and critically injuring a third firefighter.
According to CNN, Roley’s motives remain unclear. His grandfather told the network that Roley had once aspired to become a firefighter himself.
He was working as an arborist while considering his career path and had no criminal record, though police had previous non-criminal interactions with him.
Investigators say Roley started the fire using a flint starter to lure emergency responders to the scene. When firefighters arrived, Roley allegedly spoke with them briefly before opening fire with a shotgun.
Two battalion chiefs were killed: John Morrison, who served Coeur d’Alene for over 28 years, and Frank Harwood, a former Army National Guard combat engineer with two children. A third firefighter, Dave Tysdal, was critically wounded and remains hospitalized.
Clayton County Fire Chief described the impact on his teams as devastating.
“The families of the fallen as well as the injured are our focus,” he told CNN, adding that surviving firefighters were “shaken” after witnessing the deadly ambush.
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Former FBI crisis management and tactical operations leader Jason Pack, who is also a veteran firefighter, told CNN the incident will have nationwide implications.
“They train to fight fire, not take fire,” Pack said. “This has shaken firehouses across the country.”
Authorities said Roley engaged law enforcement in a 90-minute firefight before apparently turning the gun on himself. His body was found near his firearm in a wooded area close to the scene.
Investigators are still working to determine what led Roley, a young man who reportedly dreamed of firefighting, to allegedly orchestrate a deadly attack on first responders.
Some speculate that rejection from the close-knit fire community may have become a perceived grievance, triggering the violence.
Meanwhile, firefighters in Coeur d’Alene continue battling the original brush fire while mourning their colleagues’ deaths.
“You don’t get time off because it was a bad day,” firefighter Ben Hector told CNN. “There’s still just work to do.”
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is a seasoned outdoorsman, lifelong hunter, and the kind of guy who’d rather track whitetails than scroll social media. As an editor for GunsAmerica, he’s got a sharp eye for spotting both solid gear and bad gun laws. Whether he’s deep in the woods or deep in editorial deadlines, Larry brings a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is approach to firearms, hunting, and the great American tradition of self-reliance. If there’s a hot debate on gun rights or the latest in hunting tech, you can bet Larry’s got an opinion—and it’s probably backed up with both facts and field experience.
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I am a volunteer FF. How do you guard against this? Someone out to deliberately hurt you and lure you in by asking for help? We go to almost 200 EMS calls per year where we render BLS care in home settings until the ambulance arrives. How do you protect yourself and your team? How does the ambulance crew protect themselves?
appears to be someone who was used to getting what he wants and was told no. much like liberals.
Nice dodge my man, but he’s no liberal. He grew up in a very pro-Trump family. Lots of pictures of his parents in MAGA hats, praising the Dear Leader.
I could suggest he learned that sense of entitlement watching the president and taking cues from him. Truth is though, the shooter was probably just an A-hole.
just because the parents are for president trump means nothing of his political views, and in this day and age most kids have been groomed to accept communism!
Not in this case. The young man was homeless and living in his car. The ‘he was upset at not being accepted as a firefighter’ story spun up because his grandfather mentioned he was surprised because he knew the young man idolized police and firefighters and wanted to be a firefighter. Nobody ever said he tried and was rejected. They have found no indication he ever applied to be a firefighter or even visited the fire department to talk about it. It sounds so far like he was a good kid with an abusive father who used drugs and a good mother. He seemed to be well adjusted but as he got older things changed. Law enforcement dealt with him a few times because he was living in his car but said he was always respectful and did whatever they asked. If I were to guess, he may have been suffering from mental illness which got worse as he got older. He was living in his car where the shooting took place and started a fire for some reason which got out of hand so he or someone else called the fire department. When they arrived they talked to the young man and told him he had to move his car to make room for the trucks. Supposedly he argued with them because he was living in the car and didn’t want to move to another area. It appears that caused him to snap and shoot the two battalion chiefs and the firefighter/engineer. He then ran into the woods and shot at anyone who got close but did not actually shoot anyone else before killing himself.
The story leaves out a lot of information. It’s also interesting that this story says he was armed with a shotgun. LE said in their briefing during the shooting that they were taking high volume rifle fire and later said an AR-15 was found next to the body. I did notice that the sheriff or maybe he was the police chief made it sound like WWIII had broke out on the mountain and said the shooter was using a “high power rifle” and said it was a semi auto from the rapid “sniper fire” they were taking. He also said they were taking “a lot of fire”. Now that it’s over and we know the shooter was using a shotgun and no semi auto rifles were found, it seems the sheriff holding all the press briefings was either greatly over embellishing what was happening or the people on scene were and they were passing it on to him. Not a good look for their law enforcement.