Sunday’s incident isn’t the first time first responders have been targeted – including here in the Inland Northwest

Two firefighters were killed in an “ambush-style” attack after responding to a wildfire on Canfield Mountain on Sunday and although attacks like this are rare, similar situations have happened.

In 2012, a sniper named William Spengler ambushed and killed two firefighters in New York after lighting a fire that destroyed seven houses, according to CNN. Detectives found a note believed to be left by Spengler that said, “I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down and do what I like doing best – killing people.”

Closer to home, another shooting was reported in Washington state in 2018, when four firefighters were shot at while responding to a fire 40 miles west of Yakima, according to Wildfire Today. The firefighters were not hit and were evacuated via helicopter.

Deputies later found the shooter’s vehicle, ran the plates and contacted someone who knew the owner. Deputies were told the shooter had gone bear hunting. After contacting the shooter, deputies cited them with entering a closed area.

Last year, a Minnesota man named Shannon Gooden killed two police officers and a firefighter who were in his house negotiating a domestic dispute with his family for three and a half hours, according to the Associated Press.

Officers shot and wounded Gooden, but the shooting didn’t end until Gooden killed himself.

Officers have been targeted as well, including in another incident from the Inland Northwest. In Coeur d’Alene in 1998, an Idaho State Police Trooper named Linda Huff was killed by Scott Yager, who shot her 10 times. Huff shot back, injuring Yager, who was arrested and received a life sentence. According to reporting by the Associated Press, investigators didn’t find a clear motivation.