ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Police near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, have just now updated the public on their investigation into the shooting deaths yesterday of two firefighters responding to a fire call. NPR's Kirk Siegler is covering this and joins us from the sheriff's office in Hayden, Idaho. Hi, Kirk.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: Hello, Ari.
SHAPIRO: Have police identified the shooter?
SIEGLER: Well, we just heard from Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris that the deceased gunman, he confirmed, was 20-year-old Wess Roley, the person whose body officers recovered from the fire east of here last night. He had recently moved here from Arizona, born in California. Authorities told us he acted alone. He started this brush fire intentionally with some sort of ignition kit and was lying in wait in a position where he could fire on first responders - you know, the dozens of firefighters who quickly responded to this urban wildfire just east of me here. Roley shot three firefighters, two of whom were killed. A third survived, but needed surgery immediately last night. And the authorities just confirmed today that they believe Roley shot himself.
SHAPIRO: Did they say anything about what his reason for doing this might have been?
SIEGLER: Well, in investigations like this, they're not giving us much, which is typical. They say they don't have a motive at this time, but they're eager to comb through his vehicle that they found at the fire. They believe he was living in it. They wouldn't say whether he was some sort of survivalist. The sheriff did say local police had five encounters - encounters, they called them - with Roley recently. They said they were all minor. They were trespassing and welfare checks.
But the sheriff also showed us an Instagram post - which prompted that survivalist question - that has been taken down, that appears to show Roley in tactical gear. Social media posts that we found at NPR appear to show him - that he moved up here, rather, to work in a tree landscaping business, possibly wanted to be a wildland firefighter. There's one, even, that appears to show him posing as a young boy with his mother, both holding firearms. And the sheriff did confirm that they believe he did, in fact, want to be a firefighter. So it's a very grim story, and we're still learning a lot of details.
SHAPIRO: I just want to note that you are out there on the scene. We can hear the cars zooming by behind you. I know you've been talking to people in the town of Coeur d'Alene today. What have they been telling you?
SIEGLER: Yeah, there's a lot of first responder trucks driving by. Really, Ari, it's one of shock, disbelief. You know, this is a very conservative town, a community where people will proudly say they support first responders. You see a lot of Back the Blue flags and stickers. Today, I was over by the fire in a neighborhood at the base of Canfield Mountain that was in a shelter-in-place order yesterday, and I met Gary and Debbie Essman, who were still shaken, and they could see the fire getting out of control from their driveway.
GARY ESSMAN: Yeah, I stayed in the house. We came outside to check on the fire and...
DEBBIE ESSMAN: Watch the news.
G ESSMAN: ...Watch the news a lot.
D ESSMAN: I think people are relieved that it's over and can't believe that it would happen here.
SHAPIRO: Kirk, I know people still have a lot of questions. What happens now?
SIEGLER: Well, the investigation is continuing. As you can hear behind me, it's a very active situation, and it's still an active wildfire up there. I mean, I can see behind me still some smoke plume. They're hoping to get that at least contained in the next hours or at least by nightfall. You know, it's not yet clear how much this being a fire zone has hampered the investigation and, you know, how much of the ground where they found Foley (ph) is damaged to the point where they can't really learn too much more. But, you know, this is a community that's still in mourning. I imagine there'll be vigils. We're set to hear from the fire department about - and learn more about some of the two men who died in the coming hours and days. But there's just a lot of shock still here that this tragedy could possibly happen.
SHAPIRO: That's NPR's Kirk Siegler reporting from Hayden, Idaho. Thank you.
SIEGLER: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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