The suspect believed to have fatally shot two firefighters and wounded a third after having set a brush fire in Idaho spoke with responding firefighters before he opened fire, the sheriff said Monday.
Wess Val Roley, 20, is suspected of setting the fire to “ambush” firefighters, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said at a news conference Monday.
"There was an interaction with the firefighters," Norris said. "It had something to do with his vehicle being parked where it was."
Roley's body was found with a gun in the area of the blaze in Canfield Mountain near Coeur D’Alene, authorities said, almost six hours after the shooting began.
“It appears right now we have a shotgun that was used, but we’re still processing the scene,” Norris said.
Some rifled slugs — which are large, solid projectiles — were fired, but some smaller shot or fragments were also found, he said.
No manifesto was found, and officials don't yet know of a motive, Norris said, noting that investigators have yet to inventory Roley's debris-filled vehicle. He added that people who have seen the vehicle said it appeared Roley was living in it.
The attack stunned some members of Roley's family — who said he had dreams of becoming a firefighter himself — as his name began circulating in news reports Monday, and they initially thought he could have been at the scene as a volunteer.
Roley's grandfather told NBC News that "something must have snapped" for his grandson to have committed such violence, particularly against firefighters.
"He actually really respected law enforcement," Dale Roley said. "He loved firefighters. It didn't make sense that he was shooting firefighters. Maybe he got rejected or something."
Dale Roley said his grandson, who attended high school in Phoenix, where his mother lives, lived with him in Oklahoma for several months before he moved to Idaho last summer to be closer to his father.
Norris described Roley as a transient who lived in the area for most of last year, but he said he did not know when Roley arrived in Idaho. He has part residences in California and Arizona, Norris said.
Neither of Roley's parents could immediately be reached for comment.
His grandfather said Roley's height, around 5-feet-8, might have prevented him from becoming a firefighter.
"I know he had been in contact to get a job with a fire department," Dale Roley said. "He wanted to be part of a team that he sort of idolized."
Norris said investigators have checked with local firefighting entities and have not found any application or statement of intent about becoming a firefighter.
Dale Roley said his grandson had worked at a tree service and thought he had the proper tree-climbing skills to be an asset to a fire department fighting wildfires. He also knew how to use a firearm and would go hog hunting.
Norris said investigators believe that after the firefighters were shot, the shooter fired at deputies from a tree.
Wess Roley had no known criminal history, Norris said. Local law enforcement agencies had five “very minor” interactions with him, he said, but they were for things like checks after property owners noticed a nearby lived-in vehicle.
There were times Roley appeared "nervous" and "high-strung" and "kind of a loner" — what his grandfather chalked up to as "normal issues for kids these days." But, he said, he didn't know him to be violent with others.
Wess Roley's childhood may have been tumultuous at times, court records show.
Documents filed in a Maricopa County, Arizona, court in 2015 show his mother, Heather Lynn Cuchiara, sought an order of protection against Roley's father, Jason Roley, then her husband. She said that in October 2015, Jason Roley was arrested for criminal damage and assault after he was alleged to have gone to her home and threatened to commit suicide. Cuchiara said that things escalated and that Jason Roley punched holes in the walls, destroyed her cellphone and pushed her to the ground.
Cuchiara expressed concern they there were drugs and two guns in Jason Roley's home, according to the documents.
In another alleged incident in November 2015, she said Jason Roley had told her that he would be "waiting outside with a sniper rifle," according to the document. She asked that the order of protection include their son, Wess Roley, as a protected person. (He was 10 at the time.)
Records also show that in November 2015, Jason Roley requested a hearing, saying he was not a danger to his son or anyone else and accusing Cuchiara of not telling the truth.
The couple divorced in November 2015.
More recently, Wess Roley had lost his phone, his grandfather said, so getting in contact with him had become difficult until someone found it. That made his life more of a mystery.
"We didn't know where he was working," Dale Roley said.
"He did have a lot of heart," he said, describing his grandson as someone who was looking for his next path in life.
"I feel real terrible for those killed," he added.
The International Association of Fire Fighters union identified the slain firefighters Monday as Coeur d’Alene Fire Battalion Chief John Morrison and Kootenai County Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Frank J. Harwood.
Coeur d’Alene firefighter/engineer David Tysdal was seriously wounded and "is currently fighting for his life and recovery," the union said in a message shared by the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department.
Calls of a brush fire first came in at 1:21 p.m. local time. At 2 p.m., firefighters reported that they were being shot at.
Around 300 law enforcement officers, including local and federal forces, were involved in the operation to find the shooter.
Authorities said some officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter. Responding deputies, fearing Roley's vehicle could allow him to escape, pushed it from the road, Norris said.
Cellphone location data and a signal on Canfield Mountain were used to help track his movements and locate his body, officials said.
When the body was found, the fire had approached within 50 feet, Norris said, with officials taking the body and what else they could before they left the area because of the blaze.
"It's not the perfect situation, but sometimes you have to make the best choice, and that was the best choice at that time," he said.
Roley's family expressed condolences Monday for those killed and to Coeur d’Alene in general.
"There are no words that can suffice for this tragedy and the infinite losses suffered by those affected by this shooting," Roley’s family said in a statement released by their attorney, Justin P. Whittenton.
"We do not understand why this happened or how this came about," the family said, adding that they will fully cooperate with authorities.
Idaho State Police said that they would investigate the shooting and that the local coroner would examine the causes of death.
Investigators are also looking into Roley’s social media account. Some posts have been removed, Norris said.
“We believe it has been wiped, but we don’t know by who,” he said, adding that investigators don't know whether it was removed or whether the account was deleted. He did not know what previous posts were there.
The Nettleton Gulch Fire was at 26 acres Monday, with slow growth, Norris said. Firefighters were putting water on it from the air and expected to have a containment line around it by nightfall, he said. No structures have been threatened.
Bruce Mattare, chairman of the Kootenai County Board of County Commissioners, said at a news conference Sunday that it would be a day the community, nestled in Idaho's panhandle, "will not forget."
"I cannot fathom why anyone would commit such a heinous act," he said. "This kind of senseless violence is unheard of here."
