Politics
NEW: Update Revealed On Firefighter Critically Wounded In Idaho Shooting
A firefighter who managed to escape the crosshairs of a deranged Idaho gunman is “fighting for his life,” according to sources who say the first responder is lucky to be alive after being hit by a round from a sniper rifle.
A high-caliber rifle is believed to have been wielded by 20-year-old Wess Roley, who authorities found dead beside his firearm on Canfield Mountain near Coeur d’Alene following Sunday’s shooting. Investigators believe he intentionally set a brushfire in order to draw firefighters to the area and target them.
Two victims, whose names have not been released, worked at separate fire departments, which nonetheless collaborated closely. One worked as a firefighter in Coeur d’Alene while the other traveled in from Kootenai County. A third firefighter from Coeur d’Alene is “fighting for his life” after being shot in the attack, Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris said on Sunday.
Fox News followed up on that announcement Monday, reporting that the third firefighter was “badly wounded” and underwent emergency surgery.
“One piece of good news tonight: We are told that he’s in stable condition,” the correspondent said.
The shooting shook the foundations of Coeur d’Alene, a small mountain community of 55,000 with a troubled history. The town sits just 7 miles away from Hayden Lake, where Richard Butler founded the Aryan Nations Brotherhood, at one time the largest and most prominent white supremacy group in the U.S.
Authorities have not yet uncovered a motive behind the shooting, but amateur online investigators noted the eerily similar date and location to a significant fire that took place at a former Aryan Nations facility in 2001.
WATCH:
Shawn Turner, a former US national intelligence communications director, told CNN that authorities are still working to uncover the motive behind Roley’s premeditated attack.
“Right now, behind the scenes, there’s a lot of work going on to really understand who this individual is and what motivated them to carry out this attack,” he said, adding that first investigators must examine “whether or not there was some sort of tension; some sort of strife, conflict between local law enforcement and this individual.”
The ambush appears to have been “a fairly complex attack where he intended to harm more people than he did,” Turner said.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino confirmed on social media that technical teams and tactical assets were on the ground to provide support.
“It remains an active, and very dangerous scene,” he added Sunday night.
Ken Hector, a firefighter with the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department, was off on Sunday when he received news that one member of his team had been killed and the other critically wounded.
“I saw that page and I didn’t know what was going on yet,” the Coeur D’Alene firefighter told the outlet.
“It’s not an easy day by any means,” he went on, adding that he and fellow firefighters in the area have never trained to encounter an active shooter when responding to a wildfire.
“I wouldn’t have ever gone to work and thought we should be cautious about that kind of attack during a wildland fire,” he said.
