Authorities released an image from social media on Monday depicting the suspect involved in the Idaho firefighter shooting, along with identifying the firefighters who were tragically killed and injured during the incident.
The suspect, identified as 20-year-old Wess Roley, appeared in a photo on his Instagram story sporting black face paint, camouflage gear, and a bandolier around his waist, as disclosed in a news conference.
Roley was discovered deceased close to the shooting location several hours following the attack, which claimed the lives of two firefighters and left another injured. Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris indicated that Roley is believed to have died by suicide.
The firefighter victims in the attack were identified at the news conference. Frank Harwood and John Morrison were killed, while Dave Tisdale is hospitalized in stable condition.
Multiple firefighters were shot near Canfield Mountain in Idaho. (KHQ)
Norris said there had been five law enforcement interactions with Roley, which he said were very minor in nature, such as trespassing incidents.
Roley had an interaction with firefighters before shooting about where his car was parked, the sheriff said.
It appeared that the suspect was living in his vehicle, Norris noted.
“We know that he was a transient here,” the sheriff said. “We knew that he lived here for the better part of 2024. But as far as when he got here, why he was here, why he chose this place. I don’t know. He has relatives in the Priest River area, but I don’t know why he chose that. We don’t find any nexus to anything else. Maybe we’ll find more once we do an inventory of the vehicle. But as of right now, we don’t know.”
