The man who authorities believe fatally shot two Idaho firefighters before killing himself had once tried to enter the military and left a note addressed to his father in which he wrote he would “go into battle,” the Kootenai County sheriff said Tuesday.
Wess Roley, 20, set a brush fire on Canfield Mountain near Coeur D’Alene on June 29 and then opened fire on responding firefighters, authorities said, in what they have described as an ambush. He later killed himself.
Roley had tried to enter the U.S. Army in Arizona in 2023 and again in Idaho in 2024, but he never followed through on appointments and was disqualified, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said in a news conference Tuesday.
He’d also entered a Coeur d’Alene fire station in May and asked about becoming a firefighter, believing he’d be able to start that day, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said.
When told there was a process, including tests and interviews, Roley became frustrated, and “it was described to us as he left there in a very, very frustrated and agitated state,” Norris said.
A handwritten letter was found in Roley’s truck addressed to his father, Norris said at Tuesday’s news conference. Investigators found a drawing at his home of someone with what appeared to be a shotgun with the words “kill kill kill,” he said.
“Tomorrow I shall go into battle, if I survive it would be with utmost dishonor,” the letter found in the truck reads in part, Norris said, showing an image of the document. The letter also read, “I bid thee farewell.”
At around 1 p.m. the day of the shooting, Roley “committed arson by lighting a series of fires to initiate a response from local fire departments,” Norris said.
At around 1:40 p.m. firefighters asked Roley to move his truck and “the contact is being described as confrontational,” Norris said.
At around 1:50 p.m. Roley shot and wounded Coeur d’Alene firefighter/engineer David Tysdal, Norris said.
“Within milliseconds” he then fatally shot Coeur d’Alene Fire Battalion Chief John Morrison and Kootenai County Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Frank J. Harwood, the sheriff said.
The firefighters died instantly, Norris said. Roley’s body was spotted by a drone at around at around 6:53 p.m. in the heavily wooded area, and officials said he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“This was a premeditated ambush, a pure act of evil against the people we look to for help,” Norris said.
The investigation remains ongoing, he said.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988, or go to 988lifeline.org, to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.
