On Sunday, June 29, 2025, outside Coor d’Anta, Idaho, the shooter started a brush fire, then shot and killed two firefighters and wounds a third who reacted to the flame. According to the Cottenayy County Sheriff, the Sagittarius committed suicide before he could be detained.
When the name of the suspect – Wes Raleley – was released, the Internet began to do what he had done for a while when there was a widely reported tragedy – trying to independently determine the family history of the perpetrator and their political beliefs.
It never takes long. Social Media Publications including Reddit, Facebook and X quickly appeared showing the mother and stepmother of roles, stepmother, Heather Lynn Kuciara and Tony Kuchiara posing in front of the White House, wearing “make America the Great again” – the two appeared to support US President Donald Trump.
https://www.facebook.com/feministnews.us/posts/pfbid0gjaqnbcswq8MX32SFZPG4BGXKVN8TNXJFGDKJZZZ4TOK49YG9ARGVYUJUCRZ
Snopes readers wrote, asking if the photo was real. We reached out to a lawyer who served as a spokesman for the Roley family to ask for a comment on the story and check the photo, but we had not heard during the writing.
In most cases, people in situations like this delete their social media accounts quickly after interruption of news. In fact, this happened here – while Snops was trying to check the publication, Heather’s personal stories and Tony Kuciara were set to private or deleted.
We did not find the picture in the accounts we were able to access before they were deleted. As such, we were unable to directly check that the publication was authentic, since its origin, if real, must have already been deleted an account in social media.
What is certain, however, is that the woman in the White House photo is Heather Kuchiara.
A deleted Instagram account under the handle “Heather_and_Tony_” corresponds to the name “Heather Lin Kuchiara” and contained a recent publication with an inscription celebrating the 20th birthday of a “WES”, which was the age announced by the sheriff’s office. In this account, Snops found a tattoo on the inside of the right forearm of Heather Kuchiara, which was also visible in the White House photo. The ink seemed to say “Love Dad”.
(Illustration of Snopes / Instagram Page Heather_and_Tony_)
The fact that these small details were exactly correct is essentially guaranteed that the photo was not generated by AI, as AI Tools struggles to depict subtle details. And although Snops could not finally rule out that the image was a photoshop, a careful appearance of any signs of digital editing did not reveal anything suspicious.
Although we cannot finally conclude that the Maga Hat photo is authentic and unmanipulated without direct confirmation by Heather or Tony Kuchiara, there is no evidence that the photo was forged or edited.
Sources:
Bureau, Alexx Altman-Devilbiss &. Taylor Fishman National news. “The Sagittarius identifies in the deadly ambush of firefighters in Idaho on Mount Kenfield.” WPDE, June 30, 2025, https://wpde.com/news/nation-world/gunman-idified-ess-roley-deceased-in-deadly-idaho-firefighter -Ambush-on-Canfield-Mountain-Coeur-Dalene-Kootenai-County-Rherf-Firt-Responders-Law-Dalforger.
Gainor, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Bob Ortega, Casey Tolan, Danya. “What we know about Wes Raleley, the 20-year-old suspect in the shooting of a fire in Idaho.” CNN, June 30, 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/30/US/idaho-fire-shooter-we-Rley.
Mascarenhas, Tuanh Dam, Zoe Sottile, Amanda Musa, Danya Gain, Susannah Cullinane, Amanda Jackson, Audry Jime, Omar Jimenez, Hanna Park, Karina Tsui, Lauren. “June 30, 2025 – A suspect, identified in an ambush fireman, left 2 dead and 1 wounded in Idaho.” CNN, June 30, 2025, https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/idaho-coeur-dalene-firefighters-shooting.
Press, Manuel Valdes and Lindsey Wasson-ASCOCIATED. “The man shot firefighters in Idaho, who asked him to move his car by killing 2,” Sheriff says. ” Nonstop Local KHQ, June 30, 2025, https://www.khq.com/national/man-shot-idaho-firefighters-had-aad-asked- too-mis-his-vehicle-killing-2-215bf0b7a-5c8f-5967-967-
“Suspecting at the Idaho Firefighter, identified as Wes Raley.” NBC News, July 1, 2025, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/suspect-idaho-firefighter-ambush-ided-woley-rcna215977.