Police sources have identified 20-year-old Wess Woley as a suspect in the sniper attack on Idaho firefighters, according to CBS News, a U.S. partner of the BBC.
Two firefighters were killed on Sunday, and the third was injured, and a gunman shot at Canfield Mountain north of Coeur d’Alene when they arrived at the fire.
Authorities believe that the role deliberately ignited the fire to attract first responders to the region.
A police tactical team later “found a late male” (that is believed to be a shooter) and approached the attack. Authorities have not commented on the motivation or revealed the character’s death.
“We do believe the suspect started the fire,” Norris said in a late-night press conference on Sunday.
“This is an ambush. These firefighters have no chance.
“We did lose an Alene firefighter, we did lose a firefighter from Kootenai County Fire and Rescue.”
One third, he said, was “fighting for his life, but in a stable state.”
Norris said that after 40 minutes, the first report of the mountainside community fire was conducted at 13:21 PST (BST 21:21).
Sheriff Bob Norris said the fire increased to 20 acres after the first report and continued to burn until Sunday night.
The shootings came from more than 300 law enforcement officers from city, county, state and federal authorities, including two helicopters with snipers.
Norris said Worthy allegedly used a high-powered sport rifle to fire quickly at first responders, while officials were initially unsure of the number of perpetrators involved.
After an hour of gunfire, the suspect was found using mobile phone data.
Norris said it is not clear whether the suspect was his own life or was attacked by an officer.
