The grandfather of the suspected shooter who killed two firefighters and severely wounded a third Sunday in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, told CNN his grandson wanted to become a firefighter.
Breitbart News reported that the alleged shooter was a 20-year-old man whose location was narrowed down by tracking cell phone activity.
The 20-year-old man exchanged gunfire with law enforcement Sunday afternoon/early Sunday evening, and his body was later found in the woods with a firearm lying nearby.
The suspect’s grandfather, Dale Roley, told CNN, “He wanted to be a fireman — he was doing tree work and he wanted to be a fireman in the forest. As far as I know, he was actually pursuing it.”
Roley added, “It wasn’t like he was a loner. We had no reason to suspect that he would be involved in something like this.”
On Sunday night, after the suspect’s body had been discovered on the mountain, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris held a press conference in which he confirmed law enforcement’s belief that the 20-year-old had started the fire on Canfield Mountain then waited for firefighters to respond so he could ambush them.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at
