A shooting incident at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in Twin Falls on Saturday afternoon left three people dead and injured seven others, authorities said.
Police responding to the incident found the body of the suspected gunman near the restaurant, Twin Falls public information officer Josh Palmer said. It was not yet clear whether the suspect was included in the death toll.
Officials had not publicly released the names of the victims and other information related to the shooting while still working to notify victims’ families. Several of the wounded remained in critical condition, Palmer said.
Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said they are in the process of identifying the shooter and determining a motive. “We believe the threat to the community is over,” Hicks said during a Saturday news conference. “It was a very chaotic scene.”
Investigators had already interviewed witnesses to the shooting, which occurred about 2 p.m. at the In-N-Out Burger restaurant, a busy shopping plaza where hundreds of people were present, Palmer said.
Lane Koehn, 34, said he was stopped at a traffic light near the restaurant when he saw a person emerge from the drive-thru carrying an AR-style rifle. He said another armed man with a handgun began firing at the suspect.
Afterward, Koehn claimed he saw an In-N-Out employee drag another employee, who apparently had been shot in the chest, across the parking lot. He said the armed bystander remained with the wounded worker until responders arrived. “She was pretty bad off, but I don’t know. I hope she made it,” Koehn said.
Police told Koehn to leave because the shooting was still active. According to his estimates, the suspect fired at least three or four rounds, but he was not sure whether anyone was specifically targeted.
Based on the video recorded by a driver across the street, a person dressed in black was seen carrying a long rifle to a white vehicle, opening the driver’s door before accessing the trunk. The driver evacuated the scene, fearing the gunman was retrieving additional weapons.
Haley Dodaro, 43, a resident of Twin Falls, said she and her mother were in the drive-thru when they saw people scampering away from the restaurant and employees fleeing the building. “That’s when we knew there was a shooting,” Dodaro said in a text message to The Associated Press. “People were running out crying and screaming. It was very scary.”
The restaurant opened on July 24 as part of In-N-Out Burger’s expansion into Idaho.
According to the police, multiple victims were taken to St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center. Twin Falls, a city of about 56,000 residents, is about 130 miles southeast of Boise and about 75 miles north of the Nevada border.
