U.S. Identifies Gunman in Deadly Ambush on Wildland Firefighters in Idaho

Authorities in Idaho have identified the suspect behind a deadly shooting that killed two wildland firefighters and seriously injured another as 20-year-old West Val Roley.

According to Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris, Roley deliberately set a wildfire on Canfield Mountain to lure firefighters to the scene before ambushing them with gunfire. The incident has shocked the local community and first responder agencies.

Roley was found dead at the scene next to a handgun. “It appears the suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Sheriff Norris said at a press conference on June 30.

Investigators say Roley had previously lived in California and Arizona, but had spent most of 2024 living out of his vehicle in Idaho. Authorities had received multiple reports of him trespassing on private property in recent months.

“We don’t know when he arrived, why he chose this area, or what led him to this act of violence,” Sheriff Norris said. He added that Roley’s social media accounts had been wiped clean, though it remains unclear who deleted them.

Before the attack, Roley had posted a now-deleted image to his Instagram showing himself kneeling or sitting, dressed in dark camouflage with his face covered and what appeared to be ammunition on his person.

A social media post from Roley’s mother in October 2024 indicated that he had moved from Arizona to Idaho to work for a tree-trimming company. “He’s doing well in Idaho,” she wrote at the time.

His grandfather, Dale Roley, told reporters that the suspect once dreamed of becoming a wildland firefighter himself. He last spoke to his grandson about a month ago, before the young man reportedly lost his phone.

“He admired firefighters,” Dale Roley said. “It makes no sense that he would turn a gun on them. Maybe he was rejected... or something else pushed him over the edge.”

Roley’s stepfather, Tony Cuchiara, said the family is devastated and searching for answers. “We don’t understand why this happened,” he said, expressing condolences to the victims’ families and pledging full cooperation with investigators. “We’re grieving too, but we stand with the community.”

(Sources: AP, NBC News)

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