Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Sniper Ambushes Idaho Firefighters — Everything We Know

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

A sniper is dead after setting a fire on Canfield Mountain in Kootenai County to lure firefighters to the area. The sheriff said two firefighters were killed and a third was wounded and is fighting for his life. The shooting went on for hours Sunday on the mountain in Coeur d'Alene. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at the latest in the investigation and what we know so far in this episode of Crime Fix —a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If your child, under 21, has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease, visit https://forthepeople.com/food to start a claim now!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Tracy Walder  https://www.instagram.com/theunexpectedspy/Producer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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So as soon as somebody has a clear shot, I encourage them to take that shot and neutralize the threat. A sniper sets a fire to ambush firefighters in Idaho. I walk through the horrific incident and where the case stands now. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjana Levy. It was a beautiful day in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho on Sunday. People who live near Camfield Mountain, they love it there because there are trails and

they walk out of their homes and they see this beautiful scenery. Sunday was almost picture perfect until a call came in for a fire on the mountain. Coeur d'Alene and Kootenay County firefighters raced to the scene to put out that fire. Those firefighters, they were just doing their job. But they had no idea that fire, according to the sheriff, was a setup.

Listen to the scanner traffic from Broadcastify. sheriff was a setup. Listen to the scanner traffic from Broadcastify. Stop! Get out of the way! 10-4-15, Andrew Bush 551, do not come up here! You can hear the sheer panic in the voice of that firefighter. They were taking fire while they were trying to fight a fire. Three of them were wounded. We now have two deaths. We have an unknown amount of casualties. We still have civilians that are coming off of that mountain. We might have civilians that are stuck or in shock on that mountain. So this is a very, very fresh situation. We are actively taking sniper fire as we speak. This is an active situation. We have multiple agencies that

are on scene from local and federal authorities, and we are prepared to neutralize this suspect who is currently actively shooting at public safety personnel. we are prepared to neutralize this suspect as quickly as possible. And that's really all that we know as of right now. This of course was very early on in the case and at that point two firefighters had been killed, one from Kootenay County and another from Coeur d'Alene. Right now we're developing a plan to be able to suppress these individuals' firefighting capability. And when we get that under control,

when we have an opportunity to suppress that, then we will continue our removing of people who are on the mountain, who are on for a hike or public safety personnel or people who live on the mountain, who are on for a hike, or public safety personnel, or people who live on the backside of the mountain. Sheriff Bob Norris said at the time that the suspect or suspects were firing high-powered rifles,

and first responders were actively taking fire. And as you heard, it wasn't just fire personnel, it was people using the trails, civilians. Norris spoke about the worst case scenario. I would encourage all of you to tell people to stay away from the area. Do not come to the area. Stay away from the area. If these individuals are not neutralized quickly, this is going to be likely a multi-day operation.

This was as serious as it gets. Norris said he was even in contact with FBI Director Cash Patel who offered resources. People who live around the mountain were told to shelter in place. Well, they're heavy brush, well prepared, so yeah they're blending in with their surroundings. I'm hoping that somebody has a clear shot and is able to neutralize because they are not, at this point in time, showing any evidence of wanting to surrender.

So as soon as somebody has a clear shot, I encourage them to take that shot and neutralize the threat. Hours passed, and then, a little bit after midnight Eastern time, there was an updateize the threat. Hours passed, and then a little bit after midnight Eastern time, there was an update from the sheriff. We had a cell phone activation that was in the same spot since about 316. And that it was in the 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 it was approaching the body. So we had to scoop up that body and we had to transport that body to a different location. This is something that we don't train for.

It's not something we expect. It's not something our firefighters should have to deal with. In this situation, they were called to a grass fire, which is already something that we're very heightened and are anxious about this time of year. And they were doing everything the way they were supposed to do it. This is a law and crime legal alert. Did you know that children are being diagnosed with serious conditions like type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and research is potentially linking ultra processed foods

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thank God, is now over. She is Tracy Walder, a former FBI agent and CIA officer. Tracy, I know you and I kind of were talking about this last night a little bit. Walk me through how you tackle something like this, because we've heard of this happening in other places where firefighters, unfortunately, or first responders are lured to a location, and then they're lured there just so they can be ambushed. Yeah, you're absolutely right, Internet. Thank you for having me.

This actually has happened before in 2012, so a little bit ago where firefighters were lured to a location and were shot at. In my opinion, this is someone that has some kind of a message that they wanted to send. And there's some kind of, I don't mean to over analyze it, but some kind of symbolism involved. And in my opinion, that's probably what the FBI and local law enforcement are looking for right now. Because yes, we know that this was a lone shooter now at this point. But the reality is, is these ideas that these people get and the motivation that they get to carry out these attacks don't exist in a vacuum.

And so I'd be very interested to know who this person was talking to on social media, via text, those kinds of things. That's going to take a bit, obviously, to go through, but I'm sure the FBI is being utilized to help out. And the sheriff said yesterday during one of his press conferences that he had been in touch with Cash Patel, the FBI director. I mean, in the heat of this, they didn't know how long this could go on. They didn't know if they were dealing with one shooter or more than one shooter. This was, you know, a rapidly evolving situation. So this could have gone on, he feared, the worst case scenario for many days. And so they've realized now, after it's ended, that they had one person

who they believe was targeting the firefighters for whatever reason. What I found interesting and very smart was that they use cell phone technology to pinpoint this person's location. So talk to me about how that would work because they talked about how you would have people up on the mountain walking around using the trails. I mean, there weren't just, you know, firefighters up there. There were civilians using the mountain, using the trails. There are people who live in the neighborhood. You're absolutely right. And I think FBI Director Patel was probably thinking about what had happened back in Ruby Ridge back in 1992, where that went on for a few days, and was probably fearful that that's what would happen, which is

why he called in, basically swat HRT from the Salt Lake City office, which is the largest sort of big office from that area. But in terms of using that cell phone technology, that is a tool that the FBI has. So they were definitely brought in to do that in an expedited manner in this situation, because what you don't want is sort of an all out shootout kind of a situation. And if no one has eyes on this target, which is my guess is they probably didn't for some time as the individual was up in the mountains.

And as you mentioned, this is sort of a trailhead that is utilized by the community and by tourists. And you don't want to just have shots flying and inadvertently hit someone, which is actually what happened back in Ruby Ridge, what, 30 years ago. Now at this point is errant shots were hitting people. You don't want that happening. And so utilizing that cell phone technology, this shooter, in my opinion, thought about a lot before they did this. They thought about where to set the fire, how to set the fire, how to lure them, but they did not think about their cell phone and their cell phone data.

And the FBI was really able to use that to their advantage and really minimize the amount of casualties. It makes me wonder, did this person set the fire and just wait and wait for somebody else to call it in? Or did this person set the fire, let it go for a little bit, and then call the call in themselves reporting the fire so that then the fire personnel would come to the scene? I mean, we may find out more about this as the investigation goes on. That would be a reason why this person would go up there and leave their cell phone on, have their cell phone on.

You're absolutely right. That was my hypothesis. I just try not to speculate, obviously, too much, is that this individual may have called this in at a time that they wanted to call it in, if that makes any sense. Let the fire burn to a point where they felt then they could call it in. As a result, those 911 operators obviously had the geolocation data of that cell phone. That's what they do when there are emergencies

is try to locate where those emergencies are coming from. So that was my guess as to how that was originally obtained. But again, I don't think the information is out there yet. I don't know. Maybe I'm incorrect about who called 911. Sure. Even multiple people called 911. Right. You know, we don't know.

Yeah, and that's, and I'm just kind of trying to piece it together in my head, obviously, about how somebody would do this and how they would carry it out. You talked about symbolism involved in this. What, you know, it know, it was targeting firefighters. And so I'm trying to think in my head what on earth could be the symbolism here. You know, obviously we would be speculating, but this could be about government. This could be directed specifically just at firefighters. We just don't know.

But there will be an investigation to determine motive and who this person was. I mean, they're still at the time of this recording, they're not releasing this person's name. They have to confirm identity and things of that nature. There's a process here. That's absolutely right. And it's interesting you brought up in terms of

who was the target initially. And there's kind of two schools of thought in my mind on that. I think the first is, were firefighters targeted because this is a larger issue with the law enforcement apparatus as a whole? And did this person know, and it's awful to say, that the firefighters would show up unarmed

and therefore be sort of this easier target than police officers who would absolutely show up armed and with bulletproof vests on. That's kind of one school of thought. Is it, you know, law enforcement is a fault or is this some issue where, you know, this individual has had some kind of a personal problem with this particular fire department? That, I think, are kind of the two main motivators, in my opinion. One thing that I've been thinking about too is that the fire chief, when he got up there a little after midnight, he said, you know, this has happened in other places. It hasn't

happened here. I've been to Kootenay County and covering other cases. I mean, this is not, I mean, it's a beautiful area of Idaho. It's kind of in the greater Spokane area, kind of that metropolitan area. And this is not a place that I feel like sees a lot of crime, sees things like this. I mean, people move there to raise children, have kind of a nice life, enjoy northern Idaho, the scenery, the beauty of it all.

But he said, this is not something we train for. They train for this in big cities, but they don't train for this in that part of Idaho. Now that might change because of this. But he said, they don't train for this. I'm gonna be blunt, if I may. I have to be honest in that I'm very surprised that they don't train for this.

And let me tell you why. I understand that these events happened a long time ago. And I do believe that most people in northern Idaho do not want these groups of people there. So I want to be careful when I say that I'm not trying to lump them in. But this is an area. Coeur d'Alene is only about 20 miles-ish or so away from Hidden Lake, which is the center of the Aryan Brotherhood, Aryan names, back in the late 90s, 80s, 70s, and into the 2000s. They are no longer there, so I just want to be very clear about that. And the community as a whole does not want them there under any circumstances.

It's very frustrating to see them all get lumped in. I am surprised based on the issues that they had 20 years ago there, that they actually wouldn't train for a scenario like this. I know that's gonna be a controversial statement, but I do think that based on the history of this area, it seems egregious not to train for it, to be completely honest.

That's an interesting point that you make, because you should try to train for everything. And maybe this is a time where they will go back and say, we should have been training for this. And it's interesting you bring up the Aryan Brotherhood. I've seen there have been some cases in Idaho where there have been members of that Organization charged in that one Skyler Mead. He's facing some charges up there for a murder horrific

Of an elderly man, but you know that that does exist there So that's a key question here, you know the training Why they weren't trained for that. Obviously they're going up to do something on a mountain, you know, maybe law enforcement needs to accompany them on these firefighting calls. And maybe they did, and we just don't know about it. I think we're just so early on, there are a lot of questions still to be answered. I agree. And quite frankly, they may not have the resources.

And that's OK, too. That's absolutely understandable. And as you mentioned before, Canoeville Mountain, this is a public trailhead. I don't know that they had any reason to believe that this could be a dangerous area where they needed the police and they needed a police escort. So again, I don't want to put any fault on fire chiefs in any way,

shape or form. They are green being. But at the same time, yes, maybe protocol does need to change. But the reality is, is that then slows down response time by firefighters. And that, you know, incurs more property damage, more civilian damage, and that's problematic too. And so I think it's a weird lie that they are walking, but they may just have not had the resources even thought that a police escort was needed on like that. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure it came in fire on the mountain. Right. They probably think somebody's out there doing something, something got out of hand, whatever happened, somebody could have flicked a cigarette butt

or a cigarette, you know, anything that happened. And that was the furthest thing from their minds. So where we go from here, as far as I can tell Tracy, is that they make a positive identification on the body. They verify, you know, do an autopsy, verify who this person is, all of that stuff, cause of death, which officer or person shot and killed him. They were, I mean, the sheriff was kind of desperate yesterday. He said, if you see this person and you can take a shot, take a shot. I mean, they were, which I, you don't hear that too often, but he was like, Hey, everybody out there, if you're armed and you see this person and you can get a clear shot, take them out. That was unusual. I saw that. That was kind of like, Whoa. When I saw that, you knew the sheriff was in a tough spot.

Again, I hate, as former law enforcement, I don't like critiquing law enforcement because I don't know what I would do in a situation like this. We have to be careful when we're asking the public to take a shot. Listen, this is an era, as you mentioned, it's absolutely beautiful. A lot of people come there for that sort of quiet, open spaces and they probably are armed.

But I think the issue is, is when you advise the public of quiet, open spaces. And they probably are armed. But I think the issue is when you advise the public to do that and engage in something like that, as you mentioned earlier, there could be a whole host of innocent people on this trail. And that can potentially be dangerous, not to mention you could have other law enforcement

who's attempting to go into the trail caught in the crossfire. I just have some concerns about letting the public engage. Well, we will keep an eye on it. You know they're going to be going through this person's phone, the shooter's phone. They're going to be seeing who this person was talking to online and really doing a deep dive on the person's background

to figure out what was going on. And thank God more people were not injured. We have a third firefighter fighting for his life. And my thoughts and prayers, I know you too, Tracy, go out to those who lost their lives fighting this fire that was a setup. 100%. They are risking their lives every day to keep us safe. Law enforcement is, firefighters are and for this to happen is just absolutely devastating. It truly is. Tracy Walder, thank you so much. Thank you, Anjanette.

And we'll continue to follow this breaking story for you. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.