Slain Coeur D’Alene firefighters identified amid un answered questions as sniper’s father, Jason Roley says his son never owned any guns, or why the 20 year old lived out of a car?
The two Idaho firefighters allegedly slain at the hands of 20 year old Coeur d’Alene sniper on Sunday were identified as a pair of battalion chiefs.
Idaho authorities identified as Battalion Chief Frank Harwood, 42, of Kootenai County Fire and Rescue, and Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Battalion Chief John Morrison, 52, officials said at a news conference Monday.
Wess Roley, Coeur d’Alene sniper was incel who wanted a girlfriend
Idaho shooter, Wess Roley’s father, Jason Roley… pic.twitter.com/WlYtWQO96v
— William Coffin (@CoffinItUp) June 30, 2025
Wess Roley was obsessed w/ swastikas, guns & Neo Nazism
Morrison had been with Coeur d’Alene Fire since 1996, while Harwood had been with Kootenai County 17 years, officials said.
‘These men were dedicated firefighters,’ a fire official said at the news conference.
Sunday’s ambush also critically injured 47-year-old Coeur d’Alene Fire Department engineer David Tysdal, who had undergone two surgeries as of noon Monday, officials said.
Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris identified Wess Val Roley, a 20 year old transient living out of his car as the alleged sniper gunman that launched an ambush shooting leading to the first respondents shooting deaths.
Reached outside his home north of Priest River on Monday afternoon, Roley’s father, Jason Roley, called the killings ‘a tragedy.’
‘I feel really sorry for the families of the firefighters,’ the parent told the Spokesman Review. ‘It’s just horrible. I can’t imagine he would ever do anything what they’re saying happened.’
Jason Roley said he last heard from his son about a month ago, when all was well. He was working for a tree company in Coeur d’Alene.
‘What’s being said right now, it just seems insane to me. He’s not like that,’ Jason Roley told the outlet.
The father went on to say that he wasn’t aware his son having any firearms.
‘He’s never killed anything,’ the parent said.
Fractured family life?
Adding, ‘There’s got to be more to the story.’
Online records indicate Wess ran track in high school in Arizona in 2024. Asked whether his son recently graduated, Jason Roley said no.
‘He got his GED. I actually flew him out here to go into the army, but I don’t know what happened.’
Not immediately clear is how or why Wess Roley came to live out of his car and whether the 20 year old had ever sought to move in with his biological father and his wife?
Facebook posts from Wess Rolle’s mother, Heather Lynn Kuuipo Cuchiara showed the 20 year old holidaying with her in Hawaii last year.
Read a December 3, 2024 post: ‘Wess and I spent the day at Twin Falls yesterday and he cliff jumped for the first time. The first was from about 25ft and the second was from 40ft! We swam around for a bit then hiked through the rainforest to the other two falls. It was so beautiful!’
Coeur D’Alene pastor mentored sniper who recognised he had the devil in him
Read a May 2nd, 2025 post: ‘Happy 20th birthday to my Wess!! I am so proud of the young man you have become!! I love you my son!’
Images shared on Facebook showed Wess’ mother and her husband, Tony Cuchiara proudly standing outside the White House donning MAGA hats.
There is evidence Wess Roley wanted to be a firefighter at one point, Norris said, but investigators have not come across any signs of interactions with local firefighters and don’t know whether it had anything to do with the attack. Some had speculated the ambush shooting was revenge for being rejected.
The shooting suspect also had no criminal history and no survivalist training, but grew up in a family of arborists who climbed trees, living in California, Arizona and Idaho.
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, like for trespassing or a welfare check, and Roley was cooperative, Norris said.
A post shared on the Facebook wall of Pastor Stephanie Anna told of the pastor and bible teacher meeting Roley last summer in the wild while living in his car and going on to mentoring the then troubled 19 year old who she remarked ‘had the devil in him’ and who struck her as capable of being the ‘type of person to commit a mass school shooting.’
Roley was born in California and endured a difficult divorce between his parents when he was 10 years old in 2015 — a split which saw his father allegedly threaten to start a fire and shoot his mother, according to court documents obtained by CNN, though the father said those accusations were false.
