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JUST IN: Idaho Shooting Suspect Identified — Here’s Everything We Know So Far


The man who allegedly ambushed firefighters, killing two and critically injuring one other yesterday has been identified.

Police named the shooter as 20-year-old Wess Roley.

Here’s what we know about the suspect so far:

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Here are some more photos of the suspect, where, in one, he can be seen sporting a Satanic symbol on his shirt:

Law enforcement say Roley posted this photo to social media shortly before the attack:

In case you’re curious, the photo he is holding is from a song from the musician Bjork about “going hunting.”

Idaho Tribune provided the lyrics:

The Instagram photo references a song called “Hunger” by Bjork. The lyrics are chilling in this context:

[Verse 1]

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If travel is searching

And home what’s been found

I’m not stopping

[Chorus]

I’m going hunting

I’m the hunter

I’ll bring back the goods

But I don’t know when

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[Bridge]

I thought I could organize freedom

How Scandinavian of me

[Gibberish]

You sussed it out, didn’t you?

[Verse 2]

You could smell it

So you left me on my own

To complete the mission

Now I’m leaving it all behind

[Chorus]

I’m going hunting

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I’m the hunter

I’m the hunter

I’m going hunting

I’m the hunter

I’m the hunter

I’m the hunter

I’m the hunter

I’m the hunter 

After a long standoff with law enforcement, Wess Roley was found dead near the mountain with a weapon nearby.

AP News reported:

Two helicopters converged on the area, armed with snipers ready to take out the suspect if needed, while the FBI used his cellphone data to track him and the sheriff ordered residents to shelter in place. They eventually found the suspect dead in the mountains, his firearm beside him.

It is unknown how he died, and authorities have not yet revealed a motive.

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The suspect has been identified as Wess Roley, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Monday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

“We do believe that the suspect started the fire, and we do believe that it was an ambush and it was intentional,” Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said at a Sunday night news conference. “These firefighters did not have a chance.”

Although at first, police were saying he was a sniper, it appears that Wes Roley used a shotgun in the attack:

Leftists are already labeling Wess Roley as a violent right-wing MAGA shooter, mainly because photos of his mother and step-father wearing MAGA hats have surfaced:

However, it’s notable that Roley didn’t seem to be living with his mother and step-father at the time he (allegedly) carried out the violent ambush.

Police suspect he may have been living out of his car, and there are reports that his parents were not in contact with him.

Roley’s father told CNN he hasn’t seen him in a year:

Roley’s father told a CNN reporter outside his home in Priest River, Idaho, that he wasn’t close with his son and hadn’t seen him since a family gathering last year.

He also had a troubled childhood. According to reports, his father made violent threats against his mother, leading her to file for a restraining order years ago.

The New York Post noted:

He had a tumultuous childhood marked by a messy divorce between his parents — which culminated with his father allegedly making threats that were eerily similar to the crime Roley carried out on Sunday, according to court papers from the bitter 2015 split.

“He threatened to sit outside my house with a sniper rifle or burn my house down,” Roley’s mother wrote in a filing of her son’s father, according to CNN.

She also said Roley’s father pushed her to the ground and “punched several holes in the walls.”

The mother was granted a protective order barring the father from seeing her or her son — then 10 years old. But the father claimed, “I am not a danger to my son or anyone else” and said the accusations were a lie.

Plus, even if Roley’s parents are MAGA, that doesn’t make him so.

Let me ask you: does he seem very MAGA to you?

To me, he looks like just another deranged individual with mental issues.

Not a Trump supporter or violent right-wing extremist.

Though, at this time, we cannot confirm either way. No details about Roley’s own political beliefs have surfaced.

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But, very ironically, Roley’s grandfather claimed that he once dreamed of becoming a firefighter.

Per NBC News:

The attack stunned some members of the suspect’s family as his name began circulating in news reports on Monday, and they initially thought he could have been at the scene as a volunteer. Wess Roley’s grandfather told NBC News that “something must have snapped” for his grandson to have committed such violence, particularly against firefighters.

“He actually really respected law enforcement,” Dale Roley said. “He loved firefighters. It didn’t make sense that he was shooting firefighters. Maybe he got rejected or something.”

Preliminary information indicates the suspect acted alone in the shooting Sunday, and officials have not yet identified a motive.

Dale Roley said his grandson, who attended high school in Phoenix, where his mother lives, lived with him in Oklahoma for several months before moving to Idaho last summer to be closer to his father. Neither parent could immediately be reached for comment.

His grandfather said his grandson’s height, standing around 5-foot-8, might have prevented him from becoming a firefighter.

“I know he had been in contact to get a job with a fire department,” Dale Roley said. “He wanted to be part of a team that he sort of idolized.”

He added that his grandson had worked at a tree service and thought he had the proper tree-climbing skills to be an asset to a fire department fighting wildfires. He also knew how to use a firearm and would go hog hunting.

There were times the suspect appeared “nervous” and “high strung” and “kind of a loner” — what his grandfather chalked up as “normal issues for kids these days.” But, he added, he didn’t know him to be violent with others.

What’s your opinion?

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