The 20-year-old suspected of shooting two firemen dead in Idaho dreamed of joining the fire department himself and may have been rejected, his relatives have revealed.
Wess Val Roley might have been turned down for a firefighting job because of his height, his grandfather has speculated in the immediate aftermath of the attack.
Roley, who was 5-foot-8, is believed to have fatally shot two firefighters and wounded a third on Sunday after lighting a bush on fire and ambushing the first responders.
He allegedly launched a barrage of gunfire over several hours around 1.30pm at Canfield Mountain, close to the town of Coeur d’Alene in northern Idaho.
Roley was found dead beside a gun almost six hours later. Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris said officials believe he shot himself.
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 warning in its lyrics: ‘I’m going hunting.’
Authorities said Roley had been living out of his car before his heinous attack, which left two firefighters dead and another critically wounded.
‘He actually really respected law enforcement,’ the alleged shooter’s grandfather, Dale Roley, told NBC News.
‘He loved firefighters. It didn’t make sense that he was shooting firefighters.
‘I know he had been in contact to get a job with a fire department. He wanted to be part of a team that he sort of idolized.
‘Maybe he got rejected or something,’ the stunned grandfather said, adding that his height might have prevented him from joining the department.
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.
Roley’s grandfather said that he often appeared ‘nervous’, ‘high strung’ and ‘kind of a loner’, but he felt these were ‘normal issues for kids these days’.
‘I feel real terrible for those killed,’ the grandfather said.
Sheriff Norris described the attack as a ‘total ambush’. ‘These firefighters did not have a chance,’ he said.
During a press update on Monday evening, he gave additional information about Roley, including that officials believe he had been living in a van, which was found close to the fire.
We still have the suspect’s vehicle down an embankment of the mountain,’ Norris said.
‘Deputies who responded on scene thought it would be in their best interest to get rid of what they thought was Roley’s vehicle.
‘They pushed it over the side so that he couldn’t get in it and flee.’
‘It did appear that he was living in the vehicle,’ he added.
‘There was a lot of debris that was in the vehicle (but) we have not verified or found any manifesto, or done an inventory of that vehicle.
The Nettleton Gulch Fire allegedly started by Roley spread around 20 acres over Canfield Mountain overnight, and firefighters were still tackling the blaze on Monday.
Officials have not yet named the firefighters who died, but said one was from Coeur d’Alene Fire Department and another from Kootenai County Fire & Rescue.
A third was left ‘fighting for his life’ after being struck and rushed to surgery, but he is now in a stable condition.
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.
Harrowing fire department scanner calls revealed the terror the first responders faced as they arrived on the scene.
‘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.’
The firefighters were ultimately forced to pull back, with Northern Lakes Fire District Chief Pat Riley saying he would not be deploying any more crew members until the threat was neutralized.
Meanwhile, the blaze continued to grow to cover 20 acres and the gunman kept shooting.
When Fire Chief Riley got the news of the ambush, he said he ‘was completely heartbroken.’
‘We trained for this,’ he said. ‘You never want to see it in your own community.’
Life Flight helicopters were deployed to the scene, and photos and videos posted online showed a large police presence in the surrounding area.
By around 4.30pm, Sheriff Norris gave law enforcement the authority to shoot to kill the gunman if they were given the opportunity.
He even deployed two helicopters with snipers to take out the gunman.
‘I am hoping someone has a clear shot, they are not showing any signs of wanting to surrender,’ Norris said of the shooter at an earlier news conference.
It is now believed the deceased gunman was the only shooter in the attack ‘based on the trajectory [of the bullets] and based on the type of weapons that this individual had that we could recover,’ Norris said.
He explained that it is likely the gunman was running as he fired, as he announced ‘there is no threat to the community at this time.’
The suspect’s motive for the shooting remains unclear.
An investigation into the shooting will continue on Monday, when Norris said he expects to find more weapons that were left at the scene.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little called the attack a ‘heinous direct assault on our brave firefighters.
‘I ask all Idahoans to pray for them and their families as we wait to learn more,’ he said, adding that he and his wife are ‘heartbroken’ by the news.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also said her department was monitoring the situation.
‘Pray for Idaho’s first responders,’ she wrote on X. ‘Justice will be served.’
