‘One Dead Shooter’: Idaho Police Say Lone Sniper Dead in Ambush Killing of Two Firefighters

A man believed by police to be the only shooter in the ambush-style killing of two firefighters in Coeur d’Alène, Idaho was found dead by authorities on Sunday, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told the press at a late evening briefing. He also confirmed that a third injured firefighter is “fighting for his life” but is in stable condition after surgery.

“This was a total ambush,” said Norris to reporters. “These firefighters did not have a chance.”

At the briefing on Sunday night, the Sheriff explained that the fire appeared to have been set in order to lure first responders to the scene to be ambushed. The sniper, who police say appears to have acted alone, opened fire, killing two of the firefighters and seriously injuring a third. The sniper was then directed at police officers responding to the shooting of the firefighters.

That sniper fire continued for some time, including during and throughout the first press briefing with Norris earlier in the day.

The police tracked a cell phone “activation” that was stationary on the mountainside, the Sheriff said in the second briefing, explaining they “honed in on that cell phone, and we saw that there was a male, appeared to be deceased with a weapon nearby.”

“So we have currently one dead shooter,” Norris said. “Keep in mind, we had a fire that was rapidly approaching the body. So we had to scoop up that body. And we had to transport that body to a different location, but based on the preliminary information, we believe that is the only shooter that was on that mountain at that time. So there is no threat to the community at this time.”

Norris also noted that nearly 300 officers from local, state, and federal agencies and departments took part in the response, which included FBI and DHS involvement.

Norris was unable to provide any potential motive for the ambush.

At approximately 1940 hours, we did have information that a — let me back up just a second. We had a cell phone activation that was in the same spot since about 3:16. And that – it was in that same area. And we honed in on that cell phone, and we saw that there was a male, appeared to be deceased with a weapon nearby.

So we have currently one dead shooter. Based on the preliminary investigation that was being conducted, keep in mind, we had a fire that was rapidly approaching the body. So we had to scoop up that body. And we had to transport that body to a different location, but based on the preliminary information, we believe that is the only shooter that was on that mountain at that time. So there is no threat to the community at this time.

Based on the trajectory and based on type of weapons that this individual had that we could recover, we believe only the one shooter. We did lose a Coeur d’Alene firefighter, and we did lose the firefighter from the Kootenai County Fire and Rescue. We have another firefighter that just came out of surgery from the Coeur d’Alène Police Department. I’m sorry, from the Coraline Fire Department. Is that true? He just came at a surgery. He is fighting for his life, but he’s in stable condition.

We knew that our resources were exhausted, that if this were to prolong into a 24 or 48-hour operation, we would need additional helicopters. We had two helicopters that were up, and we had snipers in them. So if they had an opportunity to take a shot, then we wanted them to take that shot. We wanted to neutralize that threat.

Watch the clip above via Spokane’s KHQ.

This is a developing news story and may be updated.