USAToday report details Coeur d'Alene firefighter ambush, shooter’s apparent suicidal intent

A newly released report sharpens the local picture of the Canfield Mountain ambush: investigators now say the fire was likely set to draw firefighters in, not just to start a blaze, and that Wess Roley showed signs of isolation, despair and interest in extremist ideologies before two Coeur d’Alene firefighters were killed.

The timeline places Roley, 20, leaving his Coeur d’Alene apartment at 11:39 a.m. on June 29, 2025, then eating lunch alone at Atilano’s Mexican restaurant before arriving near Nettleton Gulch Road at 12:25 p.m. Dispatchers began receiving smoke calls at 1:21 p.m. By 1:37 p.m., City of Coeur d’Alene Engine 1 and a Kootenai County Fire & Rescue truck were in the upper parking lot, where Roley was standing by his black 2000 Ford Ranger pickup.

Investigators used FBI cellphone data, surveillance video and fire-truck audio to reconstruct what happened next. Authorities say all three firefighters were shot at close range with a 12-gauge shotgun, a detail that corrects earlier descriptions of the gunman as a sniper. A flint starter found on Roley’s body also bolstered the belief that he intentionally ignited the brush fire to lure responders into the ambush.

The report adds that Roley bought a Mossberg Maverick 88 12-gauge shotgun in Idaho on March 23, 2025, made repeated trips to a Coeur d’Alene sporting goods store in the days before the attack for ammunition and gear, and was photographed on June 28, 2025, practicing with the shotgun in the woods. Investigators also found a note suggesting suicidal intent, deepening the picture of a young man moving toward violence and self-destruction before the shooting ever began.

The attack killed Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Battalion Chief John Morrison, 52, and Kootenai County Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Frank Harwood, 42. Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Engineer David Tysdal, 47, was critically wounded and later reported to be recovering after two successful surgeries. Harwood had served with Kootenai County Fire & Rescue since 2007, and Morrison had been with the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department since 1996.

For Coeur d’Alene and the rest of Kootenai County, the new report leaves a harder but clearer lesson: the danger was not random, and the fire was part of the trap. Governor Brad Little lowered flags to half-staff after the killings, and fire departments said they would provide mental health support for personnel and the victims’ families as crews continue to live with the loss of Morrison and Harwood and the injury to Tysdal.