Suspect in deadly Idaho firefighters ambush identified, motive a mystery

The man suspected of shooting two firefighters dead and wounding a third after setting a blaze along a popular mountainside trail in Idaho was described by authorities on Monday as a young drifter whose motives remained a mystery a day after the ambush attack.

Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris identified the accused arsonist and assailant in Sunday's violence as Wess Roley, 20, who was found fatally wounded at the scene following a gunfight with law enforcement during which he perched himself in a tree.

Investigators determined that Roley had taken his own life, Norris said.

The two slain firefighters were identified as Frank Harwood, 42, a battalion chief with Kootenai County Fire and Rescue, and John Morrison, 52, a battalion chief for the Coeur d'Alene city Fire Department.

The two men had served 17 years and 28 years, respectively, with their fire agencies. Harwood, married with two children, also was a veteran of the US Army National Guard.

A third victim, Dave Tysdal, 47, an engineer with the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department, remained hospitalized in critical condition after undergoing two surgeries, city Fire Chief Thomas Greif told reporters at a separate briefing.

Roley had some sort of interaction with all three men when they first arrived on the scene of the fire before the shooting, Norris said, without giving details.

County Fire and Rescue Chief Christopher Way described the victims' initial "pre-incident contact" with the suspect as "minimal" but declined to elaborate.

Paraphrasing earlier comments from the sheriff, Way added that the manner in which the three firefighters "were attacked and ambushed, they never had a chance."

Norris said investigators recovered a shotgun near Roley's body but were still searching for additional weapons he may have used.

Fire crews, meanwhile, remained at the scene battling to contain flames still scorching Canfield Mountain, a nature area popular with hikers and bikers outside Coeur d'Alene in western Idaho near the Washington state border.

Authorities have said the blaze was apparently set to lure firefighters into the attack, but the killer's motivation has yet to be determined, Norris and fire officials said.

Roley, a California native described by the sheriff as a transient who had family in the region, was known to have expressed interest in becoming a firefighter himself. But fire officials said they were unaware of any actual applications or inquiries he ever made along those lines.

Norris said that Roley had been residing in Coeur d'Alene, about 260 miles (420 km) east of Seattle, for much of the past year, and may have been living out of his vehicle. He was known to have had five "very minor" interactions with local law enforcement before Sunday's shooting, some for trespassing incidents, but no prior criminal record, the sheriff said.

When firefighters were dispatched to the blaze on Sunday afternoon, they came under gunfire almost immediately, Norris said. When police officers and sheriff's deputies arrived later, they, too, encountered gunfire, this time from trees that Roley had apparently climbed and shot from.

Scores of officers from the city, county, state and federal level responded, including two helicopters with snipers aboard. The suspect was located using cellphone information, and his body was removed by a SWAT team as the fire approached, officials said.