A man who had intentionally set the fire to ambush the crew on Sunday was perched in a sniper position, firing at the firefighters, according to the AP. They took cover behind firetrucks, but two died and a third was wounded during a barrage of gunfire over several hours, authorities said.

Wess Roley is the suspect in the fatal ambush shooting of two firefighters in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Unverified reports claim Roley was born in Russia.

Roley had no known criminal record. Local police had five recent minor and non-violent interactions with Roley, whereby they asked him to move his vehicle from where he was parked.