A firefighter, who survived a shooting incident that resulted in the deaths of two of his fellow workers, has been left paralyzed. The firefighter was targeted in an ambush.
Dave Tysdal, 47, was the lone survivor of this attack when 20-year-old Wess Roley began firing at emergency responders on Canfield Mountain near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
Roley, standing at 5-foot-8, ended his life after fatally shooting firefighters Frank Harwood, 42, and John Morrison, 52, and injuring Tysdal during his spree.
The local fire department said that Tysdal was now in a stable condition after the incident but is currently unable to move his legs.
He suffered a single gunshot wound to his back which collapsed his left lung, damaged his collarbone, shattered several ribs and caused swelling in his spine.
An update on Monday said: ‘Dave is currently unable to move his legs. However, his spinal cord is communicating from the top to the bottom and we are hopeful movement will return when the swelling subsides. Dave has a long road to recovery.’
Tysdal has been an engineer for the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department for 23 years, and his team told KREM that he had saved lives after raising the alarm last week.
Captain Nate Hyder told the outlet: ‘Dave was able to alert Battalion 5 to get down and get out of the line of fire, and Battalion 5 was able to start getting radio traffic out. Dave’s actions saved a lot of lives that day.’
Dave Tysdal was the sole survivor of the ambush after Wess Roley, 20, opened fire on first responders on Canfield Mountain
Wess Roley ambushed emergency crews responding to a wildfire he ignited with a flint fire starter on Canfield Mountain near Coeur d’Alene
Roley launched a barrage of gunfire over several hours around on the mountain after he deliberately stared a wildfire in the area.
He was found dead beside a gun almost six hours later. Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris said officials believe he shot himself.
Norris said that Roley opened fire on emergency crews after they asked him to move his vehicle, which he had been living in at the time.
Norris also confirmed his department ‘had information’ that Roley wanted to be a firefighter, and shared a terrifying image of the suspect from his social media.
The photograph, shared on Instagram stories, shows California-born Roley wearing a balaclava with a coal-like substance smeared on his face, as well as a belt of rifle shells.
He also shared a Bjork song hours before the shooting that included a chilling warning in its lyrics: ‘I’m going hunting.’
Officials said preliminary information indicates the suspect acted alone in the shooting, and detectives have not yet identified a motive.
The suspect’s grandfather added that he worked at a tree service and had tree-climbing skills needed to help with tackling wildfires. He was also trained in using firearms and used to venture out on hog hunts.
Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Chief Frank Harwood (pictured right), 42, and Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Battalion Chief John Morrison (pictured left), 52, were the two men killed by Roley
Roley started a bush on fire before ambushing the first responders
Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris shared a picture of Roley that he had shared to his Instagram prior to the shootings, wearing a balaclava and a belt of rifle shells
Norris said Roley was born in California, and he also lived in Arizona before moving to Idaho.
He had never been arrested, though he’d had a brush with police for a minor trespass incident, and officers had conducted some ‘welfare checks’ on him.
DailyMail.com revealed last week that Roley had a troubled past that included neo-Nazi comments, bullying gender-fluid kids and sharing Holocaust-denial videos on TikTok.
A former roommate also said he made threatening gang signs, had no friends and cheated him out of a month’s rent when he was told to move out.
Roley’s family said in a statement: ‘At this time, we, the family of Wess Roley would like to offer our most heartfelt condolences to the families of those whose lives were taken and to the community of Coeur d’Alene at large.
‘There are no words that can suffice for this tragedy and the infinite losses suffered by those affected by this shooting. We do not understand why this happened or how this came about,’ they continued.
‘Our hearts and spirits are broken for the lost and hurting, and for our own loss as well.’
They also noted that they will cooperate fully with the investigation while they, ‘deal with the grief of this heinous tragedy in our own family.’
Harrowing fire department scanner calls revealed the terror the first responders faced as they arrived on the scene.
Law enforcement and emergency responders at Cherry Hill Park off 15th Street on Sunday afternoon, June 29, 2025, following reports of an ambush shooting attack on Canfield Mountain
‘Send law enforcement right now! There’s an active shooter zone,’ one firefighter could be heard crying out.
‘Everybody’s shot up here!’ the firefighter continued, noting that two battalion chiefs were ‘down’ and he was ‘pinned.’
He was later heard warning his fellow firefighters, ‘Stop. Do not come up here.’ ‘It’s clear to me that this fire was set intentionally to draw us in,’ the firefighter said.
Another firefighter was later heard telling dispatch he had ‘no idea where the shooters [are] at or where they’re going in, in which direction’.
‘I would recommend that our units, all of our firing units, escape further down the pavement towards town, maybe a half a mile or so to a safe staging area,’ he said.
He urged dispatchers to send ‘multiple ambulances’ to the scene.
‘As soon as we get law enforcement in here to get these people out, I recommend we get no less than five… ambulances staged at the bottom,’ the desperate caller said. ‘I don’t care where we get them from.’
