() The wife of one of three firefighters ambushed in Idaho announced her husband’s death is forcing her to close the business they started together.
On Facebook, Jill Morrison said, “I wish I could keep it going, but life has changed, and I no longer have it in me to run it the way it deserves.”
Jill and John Morrison built the Coeur d’Alene Cider Company, a taproom, cafe and cider store. In this case, built is not a metaphor.
“The bar you sit at, he built it,” a post announcing his death reads. “The patio out back where you sip in the sun, he built that too. The tables you gather around with friends are his work. His fingerprints are everywhere, and his absence will be greatly missed.”
John Morrison was killed on June 29 when police say he and two other firefighters approached a man named Wess Roley and asked them to move his car, only for Roley to shoot them. Roley, 20, then died by suicide.
Police say he had no criminal history but appeared to set a blaze to lure firefighters to the scene. Morrison, Frank Harwood and David Tysdal approached him. Harwood also died in the shooting, and Tysdal has been through at least four surgeries and can no longer walk.
“It’s the last thing that you’re anticipating,” IAFF President Ed Kelly said during an appearance on ‘s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.” “When you’re responding to a fire, you’re trying to do a size-up, analyze the hazards, who’s at risk, so your mind isn’t thinking about trying to survive being shot at.”
