A deadly shooting at a newly opened In-N-Out restaurant in Idaho left families across the country desperate for answers. For one California couple, the longest moments came after their daughter escaped the gunfire \u2014 when they still had no idea whether she was alive.<\/p>\n
As previously reported, the Twin Falls, Idaho, In-N-Out shooting unfolded on Saturday afternoon, August 1, while the restaurant was packed with customers. Three people were killed, and seven others were injured after gunfire erupted inside the restaurant and spread into the parking lot.<\/p>\n
The deadly attack unfolded at an In-N-Out restaurant in Twin Falls, Idaho, leaving three victims dead and seven others injured. Police later identified 24-year-old Chad Williams as the suspected shooter and said he acted alone. | Source: Getty Images
\nThe deadly attack unfolded at an In-N-Out restaurant in Twin Falls, Idaho, leaving three victims dead and seven others injured. Police later identified 24-year-old Chad Williams as the suspected shooter and said he acted alone. | Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The restaurant had opened just over a week earlier, on July 24. Authorities later identified 24-year-old Chad Williams as the suspected shooter, saying he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after carrying out the attack with an AR-style rifle.<\/p>\n
Investigators have not announced a motive. Twin Falls Police Chief Michael Hicks said Williams’ family has cooperated with investigators, adding, “Their hearts are also broken at this time.”<\/p>\n
Officials also said two injured victims have since been released from the hospital, while three remain in stable condition and two are still in critical condition.<\/p>\n
When Ordinary Moments Turned Into a Fight for Survival
\nAs investigators continued piecing together what happened, Chief Hicks said authorities are confident the gunman acted alone. Officials described the response as “very chaotic.”<\/p>\n
Police also said one In-N-Out employee risked their own safety to drag an injured co-worker across the parking lot while employees and bystanders rushed to help the wounded before paramedics arrived.<\/p>\n
One of the people who witnessed the violence firsthand was 34-year-old Lane Koehn, who told NBC News he had been waiting at a traffic light outside the restaurant when he suddenly saw a man carrying an AR-style rifle emerge from the drive-thru. Within moments, Koehn said, bullets were striking the vehicle in front of him as the gunman moved closer.<\/p>\n
Koehn recalled seeing the suspect react to someone in the drive-thru who had begun returning fire with a handgun. “I could tell he was trying to figure out where to go, and somebody in the drive-thru line with a handgun was shooting at him,” Koehn said.<\/p>\n
Watching from his vehicle, Koehn said the suspect appeared “panicked,” scanning the area and moving “kind of erratically.”<\/p>\n
Looking back, Koehn believes the exchange of gunfire gave others a chance to escape. “The shooter was solely focused on him, and [it] allowed us to get out,” Koehn told the outlet. “I mean, the car directly ahead of me was getting shot \u2014 it gave them time to leave.”<\/p>\n
Koehn said he never saw what happened before reaching the intersection, but estimated the terrifying moments he witnessed lasted between 10 and 15 minutes.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, The Associated Press (AP) reported that witness Haley Dodaro saw people running from the restaurant before learning there was an active shooter.<\/p>\n
Dodaro said she initially thought there had been a fire until a man directing traffic in a reflective vest told them there was a shooter. “So that’s when we knew there was a shooting. People were running out crying and screaming. It was very scary,” Dodaro recalled.<\/p>\n
Among those caught in the attack was a 24-year-old In-N-Out employee from West Covina, California, who had traveled to Twin Falls as part of a team helping train employees at the new location.<\/p>\n
The Phone Call the In-N-Out Worker’s Parents Had Been Desperately Waiting For
\nAccording to a CBS Los Angeles report, she escaped by running across the street to safety, but in the chaos, she left her phone behind inside the restaurant. That meant her parents, Nikki Ahern and Michael Ahern, had no way of reaching her as news of the shooting spread.<\/p>\n
Then, a call finally came from a friend’s phone. Nikki said she will never forget the first words her daughter managed to say:<\/p>\n
“Mommy, mommy, mommy, I’m alive. I’m not hurt.”<\/p>\n
Nikki and Michael Ahern speak with CBS Los Angeles about the terrifying hours after their daughter escaped the deadly Twin Falls In-N-Out shooting, recalling the emotional phone call that finally let them know she was alive. | Source: YouTube\/CBS LA
\nNikki and Michael Ahern speak with CBS Los Angeles about the terrifying hours after their daughter escaped the deadly Twin Falls In-N-Out shooting, recalling the emotional phone call that finally let them know she was alive. | Source: YouTube\/CBS LA<\/p>\n
The emotional call immediately reassured the family that their daughter had survived. Michael said his first concern was making sure she was truly safe.<\/p>\n
“I just said to her, ‘ Are the police there?’ Like ‘Are you safe?’ She said there’s police here. I said, okay, so you’re safe, you’re not hurt. She said, ‘I’m not hurt.’ Any of your friends hurt? She said, ‘There’s a girl I think she got shot in her arm.'”<\/p>\n
Nikki and Michael Ahern recount the overwhelming relief of hearing their daughter’s voice after she escaped the Twin Falls In-N-Out shooting, saying their first priority was confirming she was safe and learning whether anyone else had been hurt. | Source: YouTube\/CBS LA
\nNikki and Michael Ahern recount the overwhelming relief of hearing their daughter’s voice after she escaped the Twin Falls In-N-Out shooting, saying their first priority was confirming she was safe and learning whether anyone else had been hurt. | Source: YouTube\/CBS LA<\/p>\n
How the Hours Before That Call Left Them Feeling
\nBefore hearing their daughter’s voice, the couple said they only knew something terrible had happened because alerts began appearing on their Citizens app. Knowing she was working inside the restaurant but having no way to contact her became an agonizing experience.<\/p>\n
“Fear. Being powerless. We still didn’t know cuz it it took a long time for clarification.”<\/p>\n
The family later learned their daughter’s phone had been left behind inside the restaurant after she fled. Because the building had become an active crime scene, recovering it was impossible at the time.<\/p>\n
Michael and Nikki Ahern recall the agonizing wait after learning about the shooting through emergency alerts, saying they had no way to reach their daughter after she left her phone behind while fleeing the restaurant. | Source: YouTube\/CBS LA
\nMichael and Nikki Ahern recall the agonizing wait after learning about the shooting through emergency alerts, saying they had no way to reach their daughter after she left her phone behind while fleeing the restaurant. | Source: YouTube\/CBS LA<\/p>\n
The Call the Parents Say Never Came
\nAlthough their daughter eventually reached them, the couple said one thing never happened. They say In-N-Out never contacted them using the emergency contact information their daughter had provided. Michael questioned why no notification came from the company, “There’s got to be a protocol, like you have an emergency contact list, right? She had to have put somebody on it.”<\/p>\n
Nikki said she would have agreed to virtually any confidentiality requirement if it meant simply knowing her daughter was alive, “I would have signed an NDA, whatever they wanted, just tell me my child is okay.”<\/p>\n
According to the report, the family’s “lack of communication” left them feeling helpless and delayed their ability to travel to Idaho to be with their daughter. Nikki said there was only one thing she wanted to do. “All I wanted to do was hop on a plane and go hold my daughter. It’s all I can think about.”<\/p>\n
Watch
\nWhile the Aherns questioned why they were never contacted after their daughter escaped the shooting, In-N-Out publicly addressed the tragedy in the days that followed.<\/p>\n
In-N-Out Mourns Those Affected
\nIn-N-Out Owner and President Lynsi Snyder shared a public statement expressing grief over the tragedy and its impact on employees, customers, and their families. The Twin Falls restaurant was the company’s 441st location.<\/p>\n
Snyder confirmed on Instagram that one of the company’s associates was among those killed during the shooting:<\/p>\n
“She was taking care of our most important asset – our Customers, and her life was taken by a disgusting human who doesn’t value the lives of others or his own. He shot both on our property and off, and ended his life shortly after he took the precious lives of our Associate and Customers, innocent people who never saw it coming.”<\/p>\n
She said the company would mourn alongside the victims’ families while supporting employees and customers who witnessed the violence. Snyder described the loss as heartbreaking and encouraged people to seek comfort and strength rather than respond with anger.<\/p>\n
She also pledged that In-N-Out would stand together with those affected and “do everything we can to learn from this situation.”<\/p>\n
Other Survivors Also Shared the Split-Second Decisions That Saved Their Lives
\nThe Aherns were not the only ones forever changed by the shooting. Other survivors have also begun recounting the terrifying choices they made as gunfire erupted. Siblings Dominic Gonzales and Jaylyn Sanchez were at the restaurant together when the shooting began, but they became separated almost immediately.<\/p>\n
Gonzales remained in a vehicle with his two younger brothers while Sanchez went inside to order food. The ordinary outing suddenly turned into a fight for survival.<\/p>\n
“We were just sitting there, I was playing on my phone when I heard a couple pops and I look up and I see a gentleman walking from a white vehicle to another vehicle with a pistol in his hand [sic],” Gonzales recalled.<\/p>\n
He continued, “He popped one shot at the vehicle, and that’s when I ducked down, told my two brothers to duck down, and then periodically I would look up to see where he was at.” “Then I threw myself across the front just to take up space so if anything did come flying I was there.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sanchez was inside the restaurant when she heard gunfire.<\/p>\n
Jaylyn Sanchez Barricaded Herself Inside the Restroom Until She Came Face-to-Face with the Gunman
\nSanchez said she was in the restroom when the shooting started. As frightened customers and employees crowded inside, she tried to barricade the door while waiting for the danger to pass.<\/p>\n
Eventually, those hiding inside were told it was safe to leave. As Sanchez ran through the drive-thru hoping to reunite with her siblings, she instead came face-to-face with the shooter.<\/p>\n
“As I was running I faced the shooter head on and he pointed the gun at me [sic],” Sanchez revealed. “I ducked behind a white car just to have some sort of coverage.”<\/p>\n
While hiding, Sanchez noticed what appeared to be the shooter’s pistol resting on a gun case. “I saw a pistol on a gun case \u2014 I am guessing that was his \u2014 I didn’t have anything to protect myself so I grabbed the gun and I pulled it back, it was jammed, so I just felt helpless. I saw the truck in front of me so I ran as fast as I could and I just threw it, got in the car and we left [sic],” she added.<\/p>\n
Another witness later captured cellphone footage showing the suspect carrying a long gun as he walked back toward a white vehicle after the shooting.<\/p>\n
Footage from a Witness Captured the Suspect After the Shooting
\nAccording to the video footage obtained by TMZ, the motorist filmed the suspect carrying a long gun as he approached the car. The man opened the driver-side door before popping the trunk and walking toward the rear of the vehicle.<\/p>\n
He then reached inside the trunk, causing the motorist recording the scene to fear that he might be retrieving another weapon. The witness quickly drove away rather than remain close enough to discover what the suspect was reaching for.<\/p>\n
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An Off-Duty Trooper and Citizen Returned Fire
\nAt a Sunday news conference, Hicks confirmed what witnesses like Koehn had described: an off-duty state trooper and an armed civilian both engaged Williams and returned fire during the attack, according to CBS News.<\/p>\n
“We believe their actions drove the suspect from the scene, preventing further casualties,” Hicks said.<\/p>\n
Twin Falls County Sheriff Jack Johnson went further, crediting the pair with keeping the death toll from climbing even higher. “These people are true heroes in our community. They diverted the shooter and without a doubt saved many lives,” Johnson said, according to the Idaho Statesman.<\/p>\n
According to police updates, the suspect was identified as Chad Williams. Before officers arrived, an off-duty state trooper and an armed citizen immediately returned gunfire toward Williams. | Source: YouTube\/@livenowfox
\nAccording to police updates, the suspect was identified as Chad Williams. Before officers arrived, an off-duty state trooper and an armed citizen immediately returned gunfire toward Williams. | Source: YouTube\/@livenowfox<\/p>\n
The Mystery Protector Emerges as a Devoted Local Healthcare Worker
\nThe civilian who fired back has been identified as Jordan Salinas, a 35-year-old healthcare worker from Kimberly, Idaho. He’d stopped at the In-N-Out for lunch with his girlfriend on their way to a weekend of horseback riding in Hagerman, expecting a quiet Saturday, not a mass shooting.<\/p>\n
Salinas is the full-time caregiver for his wheelchair-bound brother, and that role shaped his decision to start carrying and training with a firearm. He began after the 2021 Boise Towne Square mall shooting, reasoning that a person in a wheelchair and their caregiver would make an easy target for anyone looking for what he called a “soft target.”<\/p>\n
Jordan Salinas, a healthcare worker from Kimberly, Idaho, was on his way to lunch with his girlfriend when he heard gunfire erupt at the Twin Falls In-N-Out Burger and ran toward the danger. | Source: Facebook\/Jordan Salinas
\nJordan Salinas, a healthcare worker from Kimberly, Idaho, was on his way to lunch with his girlfriend when he heard gunfire erupt at the Twin Falls In-N-Out Burger and ran toward the danger. | Source: Facebook\/Jordan Salinas<\/p>\n
He trained every weekend in the desert outside Eden, a small town in Jerome County, drilling a four-step military framework \u2014 observe, orient, decide, act \u2014 even though he never expected to use it.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, he did. Salinas drew his FN Five-Seven pistol, moved toward the gunfire, and located Williams by the drive-through window before firing.<\/p>\n
Tactical Desert Training Prepares the Quiet Hero for a Deadly Encounter
\nSalinas said he felt “no fear” throughout the encounter, focusing instead on the steps he’d rehearsed for years. His entire exchange with Williams lasted only two or three minutes before the gunman fled toward the visitor center.<\/p>\n
“There’s a task that needs to be done, and we’re the ones who need to do it,” he said afterward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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