(1 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sandpoint, Idaho – 30 June 2025
1. Various of apartment complex where suspect lived for months until January
2. SOUNDBITE (English) T.J. Franks Jr., former roommate of Wess Roley: ++STARTS ON SHOT 1 AND PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOT 3++
"I woke up to a phone call this morning from my brother, and he was like, dude, you’re not going to believe this. I said, what? And he said, your roommate’s name was Wess Roley, right? And I said yeah. And he sent me the picture of him, and I read the news. Honestly, I was just freaking out really bad. My mom was freaking out and my whole family met him and they’ve talked to him. And it was just, it’s scary because I don’t know, he could have flipped at any time and did that to us or my family."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Coeur D’Alene, Idaho – 30 June 2025
3. Mid of firefighters
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sandpoint, Idaho – 30 June 2025
4. SOUNDBITE (English) T.J. Franks Jr., former roommate of Wess Roley: ++STARTS ON SHOT 3++
"And I can’t believe what he did. I mean that is an absolutely disgusting thing to do. You know my heart goes out to those firefighters’ families because I respect law enforcement and firefighters especially."
5. Mid exterior of apartment complex where suspect lived for months until January
6. SOUNDBITE (English) T.J. Franks Jr., former roommate of Wess Roley: ++STARTS ON SHOT 5 AND PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOT 7++
"Towards the end he started acting a little weird, and I don’t know why, but, you know, we just explained to him we needed our own space, and our family’s growing, you know, and so. And I just didn’t like the whole incident with the gang signs and stuff like that, I just, I don’t want, I mean, my kids come here on the weekends, and I don’t want them around anything like that. I mean, he left peacefully, you know, he didn’t say anything harmful to us, he just left."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Coeur D’Alene, Idaho – 30 June 2025
7. Emergency service at scene
STORYLINE:
A former roommate of a suspect in a shooting in which two firefighters were killed and another wounded as they responded to a blaze in Idaho condemned the "disgusting" attack.
Officials said Wess Roley had set a fire using flint at Canfield Mountain, just north of Coeur d’Alene on Sunday and that firefighters who rushed to the scene then found themselves under fire. They took cover behind fire trucks.
"Honestly, I was just freaking out really bad," Roley’s former roommate T.J. Franks Jr. said as he described the moment he heard about the incident.
Roley lived with Franks for about six months in Sandpoint, Idaho, while working for a tree service, Franks said.
Franks had cameras in his apartment that caught Roley throwing gang signs at them one day, which worried Franks to the point that he called police.
Roley moved out days after.
Battalion Chief Frank Harwood, 42, who had been with the city fire department for 17 years, was killed in Sunday’s shooting, Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Chief Christopher Way said during a news conference Monday.
Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Battalion Chief John Morrison, 52, was also killed after working with the department for 28 years.
Fire Engineer David Tysdal, 47, sustained gunshot wounds and was in critical condition. Authorities said he had two successful surgeries.
Roley later killed himself, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said.
AP video shot by: Manuel Valdes
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