COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – The man who shot three firefighters in an apparent ambush in late June planned the attack and left drawings depicting the scene, along with a goodbye note to his dad.
Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris shared that information and the drawings Tuesday morning as part of an incident debrief.
Investigators say Wess Roley started the fire in the Canfield Mountain area on June 29th, then shot firefighters as they arrived to fight it.
Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Frank Harwood and Coeur d’Alene Fire Battalion Chief John Morrison were killed in the attack.
Coeur d’Alene Fire Engineer David Tysdal was injured and is recovering at a specialty hospital in Colorado.
They showed video and thermal imaging along with audio from the dispatch calls from the moment firefighters arrived to when a drone found Roley’s body at the scene.
Sheriff Norris also revealed that Roley had previously walked into a Coeur d’Alene fire station in May and asked about being a firefighter.
The sheriff said Roley was under the impression he could start that day, but was told there’s a lengthy process and examinations associated with becoming a firefighter.
“The contact became agitated and frustrated and it was described to us that he left in a very frustrated and agitated state,” Sheriff Norris said.
The shooting happened a month later.
Evidence left behind
Sheriff Norris showed on a screen drawings that investigators found in Roley’s apartment on Sherman Avenue.
One of the drawings appeared to show several stick figures and the words “kill, kill, kill.”
Sheriff Norris said the drawing depicts the scene of the crime, appearing to show the parking lot at Canfield Mountain where firefighters encountered Roley and asked him to move his truck.
There was also a drawing of a man that appeared to have a shotgun pointed at his own chin and the words “into the void” and “goodbye Wess.”
Roley shot himself at the scene and was found with a shotgun underneath him.
Investigators also found a hand-written note in Roley’s truck, addressed to his dad.
“Tomorrow I go into battle,” it said, and also included the words “I bid thee farewell.”
Countering misinformation
Sheriff Norris also attempted to counter misinformation about Roley, saying he was not born in Russia and had no known connections to any hate groups.
That information was circulating online without proof in the days after the attack.
He said Roley did try to join the U.S. military on several occasions.
He did reveal that four law enforcement officers fired shots at Roley that day, three from the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and one from Coeur d’Alene Police.
None of them hit Roley.
Sheriff Norris also took questions about why he said in news conferences during the attack that they were taking “sniper fire” from a high-powered rifle, even though at that time Roley, who had been using a shotgun, was already dead.
Norris was defensive, indicating it was the information they had at the time.
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