Firefighters Shot, Killed in Idaho Ambush

Safety At Work

Coeur D’Alene, ID (WorkersCompensation.com) – Police said two firefighters were shot Sunday after a gunman allegedly started a fire and then began shooting at first responders.

Officials said 20-year-old Wess Roley was suspected of setting the fire intentionally to lure the firefighters to the scene near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Two firefighters were killed and a third was seriously wounded, officials said. The location of the shooting was near a mountain with popular hiking trails.

First responders were dispatched to Canfield Mountain about 1:20 p.m. on Sunday, for a call about a fire. It was not immediately clear who made the call, but authorities said they didn’t think it was Roley.

Within about 40 minutes, firefighters reported being shot at, Robert Norris, the Kootenai County Sheriff, said. Firefighters called for help, telling police they were hiding behind a firefighting rig. More than 300 law enforcement officers from numerous agencies responded, including agents with the FBI.

Law enforcement officers engaged the gunman in a shoot-out while the wildfire burned. Later, using cell phone signal data, officers found the suspect’s body on the mountain with a firearm nearby.

Norris said Roley attacked the firefighters after they asked him to move his vehicle. Roley was a transient who was living out of his vehicle and had once aspired to be a firefighter.

“We have not been able to find a manifesto,” the sheriff said. Roley’s motive was still unknown, he said.

The attack left two senior firefighters dead, officials said. The victims were identified as Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Frank Harwood, 42, who had been with the county fire department for 17 years, and Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Battalion Chief John Morrison, 52, a 28-year veteran of the department. Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Fire Engineer David Tysdal, 47, sustained gunshot wounds and was in critical condition after undergoing two successful surgeries.

Since then, law enforcement officials have offered to accompany firefighters on future calls.

“I don’t know that we’re ever going to be able to guarantee people’s peace of mind, at least for a while after an incident like this,” Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Chief Christopher Way said during a press conference. “But we are taking every measure we can to ensure the safety of our responders.”

Investigators said Roley had set the fire using a flint and when firefighters arrived, the confrontation over the car led to the shoot-out. Officials believe Roley took his own life.

Dale Roley, Wess Roley’s grandfather, told the New York Times his grandson has expressed interest in becoming a forest firefighter. Roley had moved to Idaho last year and had his own apartment and a job with a tree company, but he had lost contact with his grandson in the past month after Wess Roley lost his cell phone.

“He was just trying to figure his life out,” Mr. Roley said. “He seemed to be a little bit optimistic. It’s going to be hard to take if it was actually him.”

A roommate of Wess Roley’s said he noticed a change in the man recently.

According to the Associated Press, Roley lived with T.J. Franks, Jr. in Sandpoint, Idaho for about six months. Franks said he had cameras in the apartment and caught Roley throwing gang signs at them one day. It worried Franks enough that he called the police.

“I didn’t know what to really think about it,” Franks said. “I just called the cops and had them talk to him.”

Later, the landlord also called Franks about Roley one morning because neighbors reported Roley’s vehicle had been running for about 12 hours. Franks said Roley went to sleep in his room and forgot the vehicle was running.

Roley started “acting a little weird,” Franks said, and at one point completely shaved off his long hair.

“We just kind of noticed him starting to decline or kind of go downhill,” he said.

The response from the community was swift, officials said. Hours after the shooting, people gathered along I-90 to pay their respects to the two fallen firefighters as their bodies were taken to the medical examiner’s office. Idaho’s Gov. Brad Little ordered U.S. and Idaho state flags lower to half-staff until after their memorial service.

“All our public safety officers, especially our firefighters, bravely confront danger on a daily basis but we have never seen a heinous act of violence like this on our firefighters before,” he said in a statement. “This is not Idaho. This indescribable loss is felt deeply by all those in the firefighting community and beyond.”

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