More details are emerging about Wess Roley, the 20-year-old Idaho man who authorities believe set a brush fire near Coeur d'Alene on June 29 and then ambushed firefighters who responded, killing two and wounding a third before turning the gun on himself. Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris on Tuesday revealed that Roley had twice tried to join the US Army—in Arizona in 2023 and in Idaho a year later—but didn't show up at the required appointments. Norris said that in May he walked into a Coeur d'Alene fire station thinking he could become a firefighter that same day and left in a "very, very frustrated and agitated state" after being told there was an application process.
Norris said investigators discovered a handwritten note in Roley's truck addressed to his father. The Spokesman-Review reports it read:
- "Hello Father, I write this to you in a concerned effort that you may read this in upmost [sic] sincerity. Tomorrow, I shall go into battle if I survive it would be with upmost dishonor. I bid thee farewell, I hope that you shall live to the fullest extent as you have thus far. I beg that you do not fall into the traps of modern existence, with media and other false pleasantries that plague the minds of individuals today. Propaganda of sorts. You are a [sic] astounding individual and I wish you the best. Sincerely, Wess Roley."
At his home, authorities also found a drawing depicting violence. Norris described the attack as "a premeditated ambush, a pure act of evil against the people we look to for help," reports NBC News. Norris said Roley set a series of fires around 1pm on the day in question then was asked by responding firefighters to move his vehicle around 1:40pm. Ten minutes later, Roley shot and wounded firefighter David Tysdal, and then fatally shot Battalion Chiefs John Morrison and Frank J. Harwood, who were sitting inside a fire truck, "within milliseconds." The men died instantly. Roley's body found in the woods several hours later.
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