Idaho Suspect 'Wanted to Be a Fireman'

"We still are in shock and are struggling to understand why someone would target unarmed, selfless public servants," Coeur d'Alene Mayor Woody McEvers said Monday, the day after two firefighters were killed in what police said was an ambush by a man who started a wildfire. Relatives of the suspect, 20-year-old Wess Roley, say they are also struggling to understand. His grandfather, Dale Roley, tells CNN that Roley is from a family of arborists and had been in tree service in Idaho.

• "He wanted to be a fireman—he was doing tree work and he wanted to be a fireman in the forest," Dale Roley says of his grandson, whose body was found around six hours after the shooting began. Investigators believe he killed himself.

• Dale Roley tells NBC News that his grandson "idolized" firefighters and "something must have snapped" in him. "He actually really respected law enforcement," he says. "He loved firefighters. It didn't make sense that he was shooting firefighters. Maybe he got rejected or something." He says Roley "had been in contact to get a job with a fire department," but his height, around 5-foot-8, may have been an issue.
• The grandfather says Roley, who went to high school in Phoenix, lived with him in Oklahoma before he moved to Idaho last year. Police described Roley as a transient who was apparently living in his vehicle before the shootings. TJ Franks Jr, his former roommate in Sandpoint, Idaho, tells the AP that they shared an apartment for around six months, but Roley moved out in January after he "started acting a little weird" and began to "go downhill."

• Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said Monday that Roley only had a handful of minor contacts with police before Sunday, the AP reports. He said Roley started the fire at the Canfield Mountain recreation area and shot at firefighters who asked him to move his vehicle. "There was an interaction with the firefighters," Norris said. "It has something to do with his vehicle being parked where it was."
• The slain firefighters were identified Frank Harwood, 42, a battalion chief at Kootenai County Fire and Rescue who had worked at the department for 17 years, and John Morrison, 52, a battalion chief at the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department who joined the department 29 years ago, the New York Times reports. Authorities said Monday that another Coeur d'Alene Fire Department firefighter, Dave Tysdal, 47, was in critical condition after undergoing two surgeries. "Dave is surrounded by his family, and he is able to open his eyes and the two surgeries have gone well," his family said in a statement.
• In an update Monday evening, the Idaho Department of Lands said the fire, now called the Nettleton Gulch Fire, has been held at 26 acres and "there are no evacuations or structures at risk."
• Both of Idaho's senators led a moment of silence at the Senate on Monday, the Idaho Capital Sun reports. "This evil attack on the people who dedicate their lives to protecting and serving our communities is despicable, and it's not Idaho," Sen Jim Risch said.