The family of Idaho sniper Wess Roley – who shot dead two firefighters after apparently luring them to the woods with a brushfire Sunday — has broken their silence, saying they “do not understand” how his heinous crime happened.
“At this time, we, the family of Wess Roley would like to offer our most heartfelt condolences to the families of those whose lives were taken and to the community of Coeur d’Alene at large,” Roley’s family told The Post in a statement issued through attorney Justin Whittenton Monday.
“There are no words that can suffice for this tragedy and the infinite losses suffered by those affected by this shooting. We do not understand why this happened or how this came about,” they continued.
“Our hearts and spirits are broken for the lost and hurting, and for our own loss as well,” the family added, explaining they intended to cooperate fully with investigators as they “deal with the grief of this heinous tragedy in our own family.”
Roley, 20, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Sunday after attacking firefighters responding to the blaze he set.
About 300 law enforcement officers responded as Roley fired at people from the cover of the woods.
His body was found after an hours-long shootout. The fire he set continues to burn over 26 acres, officials said Monday.
In addition to the two fatalities, one firefighter was seriously wounded but is in stable condition.
Roley is believed to have interacted with those firefighters — about his vehicle as they arrived to put out the fire — before gunshots rang out.
But no motivation for the sadistic attack has been identified yet, though investigators have ruled out any form of terrorism.
Roley appeared to have been living in his car and had interacted with police at least five times since arriving in the Coeur d’Alene sometime in 2024, according to police.
But those run-ins were all minor, police said Monday, and consisted of little more than trespassing reports and welfare checks from people who saw Roley parked on their property.
He had no criminal record in Idaho, nor in his previous homes of California and Arizona.
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.
The suspect also aspired to be a firefighter working in forestry, according to his grandfather, and may have been in Idaho to pursue that career.
