Undersheriff: Killer may have contacted fire department about job months before Canfield ambush, no tie to Aryan Nations

The 20-year-old who investigators believe shot and killed two battalion chiefs on Sunday in Coeur d’Alene may have entered a local fire station and inquired about becoming a firefighter himself a few months before the attack, Kootenai County Undersheriff Brett Nelson told The Spokesman-Review.

While officials said earlier this week that Wess Roley might have expressed interest in becoming a firefighter before Sunday’s shootings, Nelson said investigators are probing a tip that he pursued the career more proactively. He noted that a motive in the killings of 42-year-old Frank Harwood and 52-year-old John Morrison still hasn’t been established.

“There was an interaction between an employee before he left (the fire station), and that is all I know right now,” Nelson said Wednesday.

On top of the deaths of Kootenai County Fire & Rescue’s Harwood and the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department’s Morrison, 47-year-old Coeur d’Alene Fire engineer David Tysdal was also shot while responding to a fire on Canfield Mountain. He is in stable condition at Kootenai Health as of Wednesday afternoon following three surgeries, according to the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department. Officials have said Roley set the fire to lure the firefighters there.

Officials previously said Roley never applied at Kootenai County Fire & Rescue, and they still haven’t revealed what department he may have pursued.

Craig Etherton, deputy fire marshal with the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department, said he could confirm Wednesday that the suspect had never applied there, either.

The application process is rigorous, with written and physical tests and multiple interviews.

Nelson said law enforcement may know more once they process Roley’s truck, which deputies pushed down a ravine during the shooting to prevent him from circling around and escaping.

They have not processed the inside of Roley’s truck yet because detectives were focused on processing the firefighters’ trucks and their belongings.

“Our primary focus was the victims,” Nelson said.

Investigators have not found a manifesto that would lead them to determine a motive, either, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said at a news conference this week.

Norris did say the suspect had no criminal record in California, Arizona or Idaho and was likely living out of his truck.

Social media has taken off in a flurry since the shooting, with people speculating Roley’s motive was related to North Idaho’s past ties to the Aryan Nations, or to a 24-year anniversary of the time Idaho firefighters burned down the rest of the Aryan Nations compound in a training exercise.

The remainder of the compound, which belonged to notorious white supremacist Richard Butler, was given to the firefighters for the training exercise on June 29, 2001, after it was acquired by a local human rights advocacy foundation.

As of Wednesday, Roley has not been linked directly to neo-Nazi groups, but it’s unclear whether he was influenced by any.

“At this point, we have no credible information to link this suspect with any group or motive,” Nelson said Wednesday. “As our investigation continues to unfold, maybe we will or will not find something … In regards to being asked about a link between Aryan groups, we have found nothing.”

Etherton said his department hadn’t learned of any Aryan Nation ties to the incident.

USA Today reported some classmates from Arizona noticed Roley drawing swastikas and guns in his notebook.

During Tuesday’s procession from Spokane to a Coeur d’Alene funeral home, a group of women that decided to show its support for the fallen firefighters made mention of North Idaho’s previous tie to the neo-Nazi groups. When tragedy happens in Coeur d’Alene, people tend to focus on the area’s past, and not their pain, the women said.

“We are not like them. Just like every community, we have bad people,” Renee Coffeen said. “We are bigger, and the community’s voice is bigger than that right now.”

Roley, who had been in the area “for the better part of 2024,” was also known to police, but not for anything criminal – the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office had three “interactions” with Roley, and the Coeur d’Alene Police Department reported two. Each interaction was minimal, such as for trespassing or a welfare check, and Roley was cooperative, Norris said.

An Instagram photo of Roley clad in camouflage gear and face paint with Bjork’s “Hunter” playing over the post was also distributed by the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office at a news conference in an effort to determine intent, Norris said.

Roley’s dad, a resident in Priest River, Idaho, told The Spokesman-Review he had spoken to his son a month ago when all was well.

“What’s being said right now, it just seems insane to me. He’s not like that,” Jason Roley said, adding he wasn’t aware his son owned any firearms.

“He’s never killed anything,” he added.

A previous social media post from family show Roley as a young child with a family member holding a gun. Others appear to show him as a teen on vacation.

Idaho voting records show no indication of Roley voting or being registered to vote.

“We are asking everyone in the community not to speculate or assume. We are working off of factual and credible information,” Nelson said. “The mere rumors that circulate amongst social media and other means … is not always factual and most often hasn’t been vetted. Before people begin to pass information, contact where it came from.”

The Professional Firefighters of Idaho sent out a news release Wednesday afternoon following The Spokesman-Review’s inquiry about misinformation, clarifying they “have full confidence” in the ongoing investigation into the shooting. The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office reposted the release on Facebook, adding, “To assist in dispelling recent false or misleading social media posts regarding our ongoing investigation, we want to emphasize that official information will always be shared directly through our verified channels. We ask the public to be cautious about unverified sources and to help us prevent the spread of misinformation.”