An off-duty state trooper and private citizen
returned fire and are credited with slowing the 24-year-old shooter.
The gunman who fired into a busy In-N-Out Burger in Twin
Falls, Idaho, on Saturday, sending customers scurrying for cover in the
restaurant and behind cars in the parking lot, was a 24-year-old man who acted
alone, the authorities said on Sunday.
At least three people were killed and seven others wounded.
The
afternoon rampage, the authorities said, might have been worse if not for
the “heroic action” of an off-duty state trooper and a private citizen who
returned fire and slowed the gunman.
“We believe their actions helped drive the suspect away from
the scene, preventing further casualties,” the Twin Falls police chief, Matthew
Hicks, said during a brief news conference Sunday.
Chief Hicks identified the gunman as Chad Williams and said
that he died of a self-inflicted gunshot, but offered no other details,
including possible motive.
Chief Hicks declined to name the shooting victims because
all family members had not yet been notified. Of the seven wounded, two were in
critical condition, three were in stable condition and two were treated at a
hospital and released. The numbers of the injured, he said, are still
considered preliminary.
The chief also confirmed that minutes after law enforcement
arrived on the scene and began searching for the gunman, there was a second
officer-involved shooting. It was unclear with whom the officer engaged. No one
was injured, but the officer’s actions are now under review by the Jerome
Police Department.
The primary shooting is being investigated by the Twin Falls
Police Department in conjunction with the F.B.I.
We are still working to determine the full set of
circumstances in this incident, including the suspect’s actions and possible
motivations,” Chief Hicks said. “The Williams family has been notified, and
they are fully cooperating with law enforcement.”
Authorities said they were working to piece together a
shooting timeline as well as conducting interviews with hundreds of people who
were in and around the shopping center at the time of the shooting.
What is known is that just after gunshots
rang out from inside the restaurant, the police received multiple
phone calls at about 2:30 p.m. Dispatchers said they could hear screaming
during what police described as a chaotic scene, disrupting a typical Saturday
afternoon of shopping, movies and dining.
The identities of those killed or injured are slowly
emerging, mostly through social media posts. An employee of In-N-Out was among
those killed.
Ms. Snyder did not identify the employee by name.
“We lost one of our beautiful Associates tonight,” said
Lyndi Snyder, the president of In-N-Out Burger in a social media post. “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.”
“I think it was random, the way the kid was firing,” Mr.
Koehn, a construction worker, said in an interview on Saturday. “You can tell
he was panicking. He was not very calm and collected, running and slinging his
rifle around firing.”
Terry Dudley, a taxi driver in Twin Falls, has also been
identified as one of the people shot, according to family members’ social media
posts and a co-worker.
Mr. Dudley, 62, was shot while charging his Tesla, a
representative of the taxi company said in a GoFundMe post set up to support
Mr. Dudley and the other shooting victims.
The post described Mr. Dudley as a widower with four
children. “They are his world,” wrote James Palmer, the organizer of the
fund-raiser.
“There are very few people in this world like Terry. He is
the kind of man who quietly puts others before himself, who works hard, loves
deeply, and never hesitates to lend a helping hand,” Mr. Palmer wrote. “He is
tenacious, compassionate, kind hearted, and has a way of making those around
him smile, even on their hardest days.
Mr. Palmer said Mr. Dudley was the “best employee” he has
ever had.
“He is loyal, dependable, selfless, and the kind of person
every community is better for having,” he wrote.