“We do believe that the suspect started the fire, and we do believe that it was an ambush and it was intentional. These firefighters did not have a chance.”
The suspect accused of setting a wildfire and killing two Idaho firefighters in an apparent ambush on Sunday has been identified as 20-year-old Wess Roley.
A law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, revealed the identity of the gunman to the Associated Press. Investigators believe that Roley acted alone. The suspect was found deceased with a firearm nearby.
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View on XKootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said during a press conference on Sunday night, "We do believe that the suspect started the fire, and we do believe that it was an ambush and it was intentional. These firefighters did not have a chance."
Two firefighters were killed and a third injured after responding to a wildfire just outside of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on Sunday. The fire was set intentionally, authorities said, and a gunman was perched in a sniper position, shooting at the firefighters who attempted to take cover behind a firetruck.
Authorities were able to locate the gunman by using his cellphone data. A shelter-in-place order was issued for the area. After the order was lifted, residents gathered along Interstate 90 with American flags to pay their respects to those firefighters killed in the attack. The third firefighter who was injured is now in stable condition.
As of Monday, the Nettleton Gulch Fire has grown to 26 acres, up from between 15 to 20 acres on Sunday. Per CNN, the Idaho Department of Lands said that firefighters battling the blaze have had to navigate hard terrain.
Shawn Turner, former US national intelligence communications director, said of the investigation on Monday, "Right now, behind the scenes, there’s a lot of work going on to really understand who this individual is and what motivated them to carry out this attack."
He said that investigators would first be looking at "whether or not there was some sort of tension; some sort of strife, conflict between local law enforcement and this individual," and then looking into the suspect’s broader world views. Turner said that the ambush appeared to have been "a fairly complex attack where he intended to harm more people than he did."
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