Sketching swastikas, debating politics & 'edgy' jokes: Idaho shooter wasn't typical loner

USA Today

2 days ago

There are no easy answers for why a Wess Roley gunned down firefighters in Idaho. What is known, his friends say, is he was a fierce conservative fixated on guns, but he wasn't a loner growing up.
Wess Roley cultivated an image in middle and high school as an 'edgy,' 'cool' and funny kid who was interested in history, constantly talking about politics, and wanted to join the military, several former classmates told USA TODAY.
But he also had a darker side.
The young man accused of shooting and killing two firefighters in an attack in rural Idaho was 'obsessed with guns,' the classmates said. He also had 'Nazi tendencies.' Roley's former classmates said he drew swastikas and pictures of guns in school books.
'He would say things from time to time that were just unhinged,' said Dieter Denen, who attended elementary, middle, and high schools with Roley. 'We all thought he was messing around.'
Authorities continue to search for a motive in the killing of firefighters called to a wildfire June 29 on Canfield Mountain, just outside Coeur D'Alene. So far, there are no easy answers for why a 20-year-old son of a tree trimmer and archery enthusiast would suddenly turn on first responders.
What is known, according to his friends, is Roley was part of a close-knit circle growing up before he landed in northwest Idaho, a region known for its embrace of independence, gun rights and stalwart conservatism. Five former schoolmates told USA TODAY they didn't keep in touch with him after high school but recounted what they knew of Roley growing up.
What turned an opinionated, gregarious teenager into a killer, they couldn't say. All five former classmates expressed surprise, anguish and sadness over Roley's violent fate, and they said Roley didn't fit the stereotype of other mass shooters.
'I would not say that he was a loner,' said Elina Pinkhasova, who attended North Phoenix Preparatory Academy with Roley. 'We were all friends with him, and it was a group of like, 10 of us — he was always hanging out with his guy friends.'
'Some trouble with a girl'
Roley's childhood friends, some of whom attended multiple schools with him, said he was very political for his age and a Trump supporter — not unusual at the time in Phoenix, where 48% voted for him in 2016.
'He was very hardcore Trump — just very involved in politics,' Pinkhasova said. 'He was always very defensive, always getting into it with people, which we thought was kind of weird because we were 14, 15 years old.'
Roley's old friends all said he was also obsessed with guns. Pinkhasova said she thought all the talk from Roley about guns was just part of his conservative ideology.
'The Wess we knew was very interested in joining the Army,' said Pinkhasova. 'Like, I thought his love for weapons was coming from the fact that he wanted to be a law enforcer of some sort.'
Former classmates said he came to school one day with a 'buzz cut,' and said he wanted to join ROTC. They said Roley's apparent fascination with Nazism was primarily a front — a way to stand out and get attention. Again and again, his former friends used the same word: 'edgy.'
'People called him out for it. It's not like people turned a blind eye.' said Pinkhasova, who is Jewish. 'People were like, 'Bro! Cool it! What's wrong with you?' They called him out, and he would laugh it off.'
Denen and others said they remember Roley left high school in the middle of sophomore year. One believed Roley was expelled 'after some trouble with a girl.'
An inauspicious landing place
That's when Roley moved to Idaho, where his father ran a tree-trimming service.
It was an area with an inauspicious history. For decades, the white supremacist organization Aryan Nations was headquartered there — until 2000, when a lawsuit by the Southern Poverty Law Center bankrupted the group.
Although the group's compound was razed, the locals are still trying to shake the stigma.
While Coeur d'Alene, a city of over 57,000 has grown over the years and is also home to progressive residents, it sits in a conservative part of the state long associated with anti-government groups.
In 2022, 31 members of a white-nationalist group were arrested in the city and charged with conspiring to riot during a Pride event. Although many were from other states, it didn't help efforts to distance the city from its past.
'This is not who we are as a community,' Bruce Mattare, a Kootenai County commissioner, said at a press conference the day of the firefighters' shooting last month. 'And when you hear how others portray the people who live here on the news, it's not true. What happened here decades ago is not reflective of the fine people who live here today.'
Tony Stewart, who helped found the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations in the early 1980s in response to the Aryan Nations, said after the group left, he helped offer one of its vacated compound buildings to local firefighters for training purposes.
From a controlled burn to a wildfire attack
A few miles away — and 24 years to the day after the remnants of the Aryan Nations' compound were destroyed in a controlled burn — firefighters were called to put out a grass fire.
The call came in about 1:21 p.m. local time. About 20 minutes later, still examining the blaze whose smoke could be seen in the distance, they were suddenly scrambling to call for help as the bullets flew at them, a barrage of high-powered fire.
Some could be heard on the radio pleading for help after two were hit.
Hikers were still making it off the mountain as the gunfire continued. The shooter was concealed by heavy brush and seemed to be well prepared. Investigators believe the gunman set the fire.
'This was a total ambush,' Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said. The next day, authorities found Roley's body by tracking cell phone data.
The haunting question: Why?
After he moved to Idaho, Roley spent time working in the tree maintenance business.
His father had recently remarried, moved to Idaho, and started a tree trimming and stump grinding business in the area, according to his social media posts and the company's website.
Wess Roley attempted unsuccessfully to enlist in the U.S. Army in Idaho several times in the last several years, Chris Surridge, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army confirmed. He was deemed ineligible each time, but the Army declined to specify what disqualified him. The Army declines people for a variety of physical and mental health disqualifiers, as well as background based on education, crime or drug use.
He had expressed interest in becoming a firefighter, too, Norris said.
Roley appeared to be living in his car at some point, and had five run-ins with local law enforcement that were "very, very minor in nature," Norris said. "He cooperated on each one."
His encounters with police mostly had to do with trespassing, Norris said. At one point, police had to ask him to leave a restaurant.
Attorney Justin Whittenton, who represents Roley's family in Arizona, where his mother and stepfather live, issued a statement on their behalf that reads in part:
'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.'
Wess Roley's grandfather told reporters his grandson had appeared to be thriving in Idaho. He had a loving family, Dale Roley told CNN.
'He had his own apartment. He was doing good," he told ABC. But in recent months, he had become "kind of a loner," he said.
The day after the shooting, his father, Jason Roley, who did not respond to requests for comment, posted an image dedicated to the deceased firefighters, reading 'IN LOVING MEMORY OF OUR FALLEN HEROES, JUNE 29 2025.'
His caption under the image: 'I have no words. I'm so sorry for the family's'
Nick Penzenstadler contributed reporting.