MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Two firefighters are dead in north Idaho, along with the man suspected of shooting them.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Yeah. Authorities called it an ambush by sniper. The city of Coeur d'Alene was under a shelter-in-place order most of yesterday afternoon. Investigators are still trying to determine exactly what happened and why.
MARTIN: Spokane Public Radio reporter Eliza Billingham is with us now from nearby Spokane, Washington. Good morning, Eliza.
ELIZA BILLINGHAM, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So what can you tell us so far about what happened? What are the authorities saying?
BILLINGHAM: Well, yesterday afternoon, firefighters responded to a 911 call for a grass fire on Canfield Mountain, which is a small mountain just north of Coeur d'Alene. And pretty soon after the firefighters arrived, officials say that somebody opened fire on them. Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris was clear that he thinks this was intentional.
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BOB NORRIS: This was a total ambush. These firefighters did not have a chance.
BILLINGHAM: Two firefighters were killed. Another was injured. And later that afternoon, law enforcement was able to recover the body of the suspect from the ongoing fire.
MARTIN: So, Eliza, I understand that the authorities are saying that they think there was only one shooter and that he is dead. They don't yet know how he died. Could you walk us through how they went about figuring that part out? And do we know anything about who this person is or was?
BILLINGHAM: Of course. So lots of law enforcement from nearby jurisdictions showed up, plus the FBI. Apart from the fire, the sheriff said this is a really difficult type of terrain to conduct a search.
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NORRIS: When you have an environment where you don't know where the bullets are coming from because of the trees and the shrubbery and what have you, it's - it is daunting for police officers, let alone firefighters.
BILLINGHAM: And the FBI was able to locate a cellphone signal. And when they followed that signal, they were able to find a body. And they say that body was near a type of weapon that made them think this was the suspect and the only shooter. But they're not saying what kind of weapon that is. And they're not saying anything about his identity, his politics, his past or anything that might explain why he did this.
MARTIN: So we don't want to speculate, but north Idaho does have a reputation as a place where white supremacist organizations or antigovernment militia groups have gone to set themselves up at some point. Did authorities there talk about that at all?
BILLINGHAM: Right. Well, County Commissioner Bruce Mattare did acknowledge the region's history with violence against authority, but he stressed that that's not what defines the area today. He said that this is an area that loves first responders. And when they moved the bodies of the firefighters from the north Idaho hospital to the Spokane County Medical Examiner's office, people were lining the interstate for miles on both sides of the state line, waving American flags. Despite its history, this is a place that people have been moving to raise young families, and this type of attack against firefighters is especially strange and difficult for this community to process.
MARTIN: So where does this investigation go from here?
BILLINGHAM: Authorities said that they've contained the fire, and they'll resume the investigation on the mountain this morning. The sheriff is thinking that they may find more weapons. But meanwhile, local and federal agents are working to ID the suspect, and they hope to uncover more about his motive.
MARTIN: That is Spokane Public Radio's Eliza Billingham. Eliza, thank you.
BILLINGHAM: Thank you so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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