2025 Coeur d'Alene shooting

2025 Coeur d'Alene shooting
Canfield Mountain looking east from U.S. Route 95
20km 12miles
Location	Canfield Mountain, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, United States
Coordinates	47°43′3″N 116°45′0″W
Date	June 29, 2025 c.14:00 p.m. – c.19:40 p.m. (PT)
Target	First responders
Attack type	Shooting, ambush, arson, murder-suicide
Weapons	12-gauge shotgun (rifled slugs) .22-caliber rifle (recovered, not believed fired)
Deaths	3 (including the perpetrator)
Injured	1
Perpetrator	Wess Roley
No. of participants	1
Motive	Under investigation

On June 29, 2025, an ambush on Canfield Mountain near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, left two firefighters dead, a third critically wounded, and the suspected gunman dead after a five-hour manhunt.

Investigators initially reported a high-powered rifle, but Sheriff Robert Norris said on June 30 that the gunman actually fired a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with rifled slugs and then died of an apparent self-inflicted wound.

The victims—one from the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department and one from Kootenai County Fire & Rescue—were pronounced dead at the scene; a third firefighter from Coeur d'Alene underwent emergency surgery and survived. Battalion Chief John Morrison, of the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department and Battalion Chief Frank Harwood, of the Kootenai Fire & Rescue Department were killed during the ambush. The firefighter who was injured was identified as Dave Tysdal, a 23-year veteran of the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department.

More than 300 local, state and federal officers responded, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) took over evidence processing, and the Idaho Department of Lands battled the intentionally set blaze, which grew to about 26 acres (10.5 ha) before being contained the following day. Officials have not established a motive, calling the attack "a total ambush" on first responders; the incident has renewed national attention on the rising number of targeted assaults against U.S. firefighters and paramedics.

Background

Canfield Mountain is a 3,900 ft (1,200 m) forested ridge bordering the city's greenbelt which is popular with hikers and mountain-bike riders. North Idaho entered the 2025 fire season with above-average fuel loads following an unusually dry spring, prompting heightened wildfire alerts from the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL).

Attack

At 1:21 p.m. PDT on 29 June 2025, Kootenai County dispatchers received a 9-1-1 call reporting a brush fire in Nettleton Gulch on the west flank of Canfield Mountain; it was accordingly given the name Nettleton Gulch fire.

Around 2:00 p.m. the first engine companies—drawn from the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department, Kootenai County Fire & Rescue and the Northern Lakes Fire District—arrived on scene and promptly came under gunfire. Firefighters radioed that multiple shots were being fired and took cover behind their apparatus, temporarily suspending suppression efforts.

Witness statements released at a 30 June briefing indicate that the gunman, 20-year-old Wess Roley, briefly spoke with the first crew—asking about the fire's behaviour—before raising a shotgun and opening fire. He had also been asked about the parking of his vehicle. Investigators believe Roley used a flint striker to ignite the brush and “deliberately lured” firefighters into a kill zone on the mountain’s western slope.

At 3:16 p.m. detectives traced a ping from Roley’s mobile telephone on the upper mountain, allowing SWAT units and air assets to tighten the search perimeter. Between 4:05 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. county officials issued a shelter-in-place order for neighborhoods east of downtown Coeur d'Alene, warning residents to remain indoors while the gunman was at large. Police scanner traffic during the afternoon suggested that deputies had located a vehicle believed to be linked to the attack.

At 7:40 p.m. SWAT officers found Roley dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in dense timber near the fireline; a firearm was recovered beside the body. Sheriff Norris stated that evidence indicated Roley had set the fire specifically to ambush first responders and that he had acted alone.

With the crime scene secured, Idaho Department of Lands crews hiked in between 7:30 and 10:00 p.m. and began cutting a hand-line around what was now a 15 to 20 acres (6.1 to 8.1 ha) fire. Overnight the blaze grew to cover about 26 acres (11 ha) of steep, timbered ground, leaving a visible smoke haze over Coeur d'Alene the following morning.

Victims

Two firefighters were killed while another was injured during the shooting.

The deceased were identified as Battalion Chief Frank Harwood, 42, of Kootenai County Fire & Rescue, and Battalion Chief John Morrison, 52, of the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department. Harwood was a 17-year fire service veteran and also served in the Army National Guard, while Morrison had over 28 years of experience in fire service.

The injured firefighter was identified as Fire Engineer David Tysdal, 47, of the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department. He sustained critical injuries and underwent surgery, later being reported in stable condition.

Both Harwood and Morrison were pronounced dead at the scene.

Perpetrator

A day after the shooting, authorities identified the gunman as 20-year-old Wess Val Roley (May 1, 2005 – June 29, 2025), a former California resident who, according to Sheriff Norris, appears to have shot himself with a shotgun recovered beside his body. Roley had five previous, minor contacts with law enforcement—trespass calls and welfare checks—but no criminal record, and investigators have found no writings or ideology indicating a motive.

Roley was born in California and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Roley's grandfather Dale Roley said that his grandson had held a deep level of respect for law enforcement, and was in the process of attempting to become a firefighter himself: "He loved firefighters. It didn't make sense that he was shooting firefighters. Maybe he got rejected or something." Dale Roley also told CNN that his grandson came from a family of arborists and had been working in the tree service industry. "He wanted to be a fireman—he was doing tree work and he wanted to be a fireman in the forest... As far as I know, he was actually pursuing it."

Roley owned a shotgun and a long rifle, his grandfather said. Investigators are confident that a shotgun was used in the attack, but have stopped short of ruling out additional firearms.

Detectives located his heavily-packed pickup truck in an embankment nearby and believe he had been living out of the vehicle in recent weeks.

Authorities say Roley deliberately lit the fire to summon emergency services to the area. The motive for the attack remains unclear. After an hours-long standoff, a police SWAT team discovered his body close to where the attack took place.

Roley had an Instagram account that was deleted after the shooting. Authorities released a post by Roley in which he appears to be wearing dark camouflage and a mask while playing the song "Hunter" by Björk.

As of June 30, 2025, detectives had not established a motive and said the investigation into Roley's background and possible intent was ongoing.

Operations and aftermath

Operations

A temporary no-fly zone for unauthorised aircraft and drones was declared over Canfield Mountain within hours of the ambush.

More than 300 law-enforcement officers—local, state and federal—were ultimately mobilized for the response and evidence-recovery effort. Specialists from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stayed on scene overnight to document ballistics evidence, while the Idaho Department of Lands resumed suppression once the mountain was declared safe.

Because ground crews had been pinned down for several hours, the Nettleton Gulch Fire grew to roughly 26 acres (11 ha) of steep, timbered terrain by the morning of 30 June. IDL reported preliminary hand-lines around the perimeter but no formal containment figure, and urged residents to remain ready to evacuate should winds shift.

Public mourning and tributes

That evening a miles-long procession carried the two fallen firefighters from Kootenai Health Hospital to the Spokane County Medical Examiner; residents lined freeway overpasses waving U.S. and Idaho flags or saluting as the convoy passed.

Governor Brad Little ordered all U.S. and Idaho flags to be flown at half-staff until the day after the firefighters' memorial service. During debate on an unrelated spending bill, Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch led a moment of silence in the U.S. Senate, while the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) called the ambush "a heinous act of violence" and dispatched peer-support teams to Coeur d'Alene.

Local churches opened for counseling sessions, and regional critical-incident stress-management teams offered free debriefings to first-responder agencies. Community members also launched several crowd-funding pages to help the families of the slain and injured firefighters.

Responses

Law-enforcement and federal agencies

More than a dozen public-safety agencies converged on Canfield Mountain within the first two hours of the incident.

• The Kootenai County Sheriff's Office served as incident command, supported by the Idaho State Police, the Coeur d'Alene Police Department and neighbouring police and sheriff's offices from Spokane, Shoshone, and Bonner counties.
• The FBI deployed crisis-negotiation specialists, evidence-response technicians and aerial-surveillance assets from its Spokane Resident Agency.
• The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Seattle Field Division sent ballistics experts and certified fire investigators to examine the crime scene and the point of fire origin.
• Air support included a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil helicopter equipped with FLIR, two Spokane County Sheriff's helicopters and at least one armoured rescue vehicle from the region's multijurisdictional SWAT team.

Fire and emergency medical support

Because the first-arriving engines “came under fire almost immediately” and were forced to take cover, direct suppression was suspended until the slope was declared safe later that evening. Once law-enforcement lifted the security hold (about 7:30 p.m.), the Idaho Department of Lands ordered extra hand crews, engines, heavy equipment and aircraft to reinforce the overnight attack on the Nettleton Gulch fire.

Air-medical cover was provided by Life Flight Network, which staged a helicopter at Kootenai Health and positioned additional aircraft at a temporary landing zone on U.S. Route 95; numerous ground ambulances from neighboring jurisdictions also mustered near the command post in case of further casualties.

Political and organizational reactions

Governor Brad Little described the ambush as an "evil attack on the people who dedicate their lives to protecting and serving our communities" and activated the state emergency operations centre to coordinate wildfire and investigative resources. The IAFF dispatched a peer-support team to Coeur d'Alene.

Investigative status

As of 30 June 2025, the motive "remains under active investigation" by the Sheriff's Office. Detectives were analyzing the shooter's digital devices, interviewing family members and reviewing gun-purchase records provided by the ATF. The FBI asked anyone with video captured on Canfield Mountain between 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. to upload footage to a dedicated evidence collection portal. Detectives are processing Roley’s pickup truck, which was forced off a forest road during the search, and analyzing data from his deleted social media accounts.

See also

• 2012 Webster shooting, a similar shooting where a house was set on fire to lure in firefighters to be ambushed.
• Gun violence in the United States