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Chilling audio of the 911 call from the incident in which firefighters were lured into a fatal shooting has been released.
The incident took place on Canfield Mountain and resulted in two firefighters being killed and one being hospitalized, but in stable condition after surgery, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said during a news conference Sunday (June 29) night via CNN.
“We need law enforcement up here immediately,” a firefighter frantically said during a 911 call recorded on a live dispatch feed while reporting that there were "two battalion chiefs down."
“I’m pinned down,” the unidentified firefighter added, claiming the fire “was set intentionally to draw us in.”
The Kootenai County Sheriff's Office initially received a call reporting a fire on Canfield Mountain at 1:21 p.m. local time, at which point fire crews responded to the scene. Firefighters responding to the fire were reported to be shot at around 2:00 p.m. local time.
An estimated 300 law enforcement officers from multiple agencies responded to assist the firefighters while the fire continued to burn for the next 90 minutes, at which point officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect. Authorities tracked a cell phone signal to the same location it had been at since 3:16 p.m., at which point they found a deceased male with a weapon nearby who was identified as the suspected sole shooter at around 7:40 p.m.
“We felt like since the fire was approaching, we needed to scoop up (the suspect’s) body,” Norris said, claiming the scene was “compromised” via CNN. “We had to do what we had to do to preserve the body.”
Authorities didn't plan to release any additional information on the weapon found with the gunman until after "the fire threat diminishes."
“We don’t know if there are more weapons up there that he had. There is a belief that he ran and shot,” Norris said. “There’s a likelihood that when we are able to enter the scene again tomorrow without the threat of fire that we’ll find other weapons that were placed.”
The scene was reported to be "contained" but Norris confirmed crews would "be there all night" before resuming the investigation Monday (June 30) morning.