KOOTENAI COUNTY, Idaho – Firefighters in Kootenai County encountered a dangerous situation when they came under fire from a sniper hidden among trees and shrubbery. Sheriff Bob Norris shared the challenges faced by responders in such an environment.
“You know, when you have a, an environment where you don’t know where the bullets are coming from because of the, the trees and the shrubbery and what have you. It’s, it is daunting for police officers, let alone firefighters who are there just to to, put out the fire,” Norris said.
Security analyst Rich Kolko provided insight into the situation, discussing the response and what law enforcement is focusing on. Kolko raised questions about the shooter’s background and possible digital evidence.
“Did somebody else bring him there? Then they’re going to, of course, want to check any, digital information that he has. It sounds like a cell phone was available. Does that lead to some other, computer device, an iPad, a computer? Was there anything that he had telegraphed? Anybody had any idea that this was happening? So they’re going to want to dig into all this and see what they can learn about the person,” Kolko said.
Despite the challenges of collecting evidence as a wildfire approached, Kolko emphasized that law enforcement likely has the necessary answers.
“They have the answers that they probably need already, which is this is the shooter. They want to continue the investigation to make sure the shooter operated alone. The fact that they may have lost some evidence or some ability to recreate the entire event will certainly be, troublesome and will bother a lot of the folks that, are involved in this,” Kolko stated.
Although the suspected shooter is deceased, Kolko explained that the investigation continues. Law enforcement will conduct a “hot watch,” reviewing the day’s events and evaluating coordination among the 300 officers and agents involved.
“They’re going to find that of the 300, different officers and agents that showed up. The entity that came there to work and to help. Did everything work as smoothly as included? Did all the communications work as smoothly as I could?” Kolko added.
The investigation aims to ensure that all procedures were effective and to identify any areas for improvement in case a similar situation arises in the future.
