More details are coming to light regarding the shooter who lured firefighters into an ambush in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and opened fire. The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Wess Roley, had minimal interaction with law enforcement and no criminal record, as stated by Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris on Monday afternoon.
“We don’t show any criminal history for Roley,” Sheriff Norris said.
Roley has lived in California, Idaho and Arizona.
At the news conference Monday, the sheriff gave reporters a picture from Roley’s Instagram account that had been recently removed.
It shows Roley dressed in camoflague with his face painted and partially masked.
The photo depicts Roley, presumably, in camouflage attire, with a belt of what seems to be 12-gauge shotgun shells around his waist. The timing of the photo remains unknown, and without context, it could resemble a young man getting ready for a paintball game.
Sheriff Norris also revealed that Roley had spoken with firefighters before the shooting:
Sheriff Norris mentioned that Roley conversed with the firefighters before the shooting, and there was some form of discussion, although his motive for the attack remains unclear.
The sheriff said that discussion had something to do with where Roley’s vehicle was parked.
Investigators say they know Roley used a shotgun with rifled slugs; they’re still processing the scene and have not yet found any other weapons.
The sheriff said Roley grew up in an arborist family and is comfortable in the trees. He said that one report indicated Roley may have been firing at first responders from a perch in a tree when they arrived.
A shotgun with slugs, we might note, is a short-range proposition as long guns go, most effective within 100 yards. A hunting rifle of the kind routinely used in states like Idaho for deer and elk has a range three times that, if the shooter is capable. But within that 100-yard range, a 12-gauge shotgun with slugs packs a considerable wallop. This is pure speculation, but this would seem to indicate that Roley was fairly close to his victims when he opened fire, perhaps, as the report notes, in a tree.
