In-N-Out Burger owner and President Lynsi Snyder is mourning the victims of Saturday’s mass shooting at one of the company’s newest restaurants in Twin Falls, Idaho.
Three people were killed and seven others injured, some critically, in the Saturday afternoon shooting at the In-N-Out Burger in Twin Falls.
The gunman opened fire on the In-N-Out Burger restaurant on the corner of Blue Lakes Boulevard and Fillmore Street in Twin Falls.
The In-N-Out location, the fourth in Idaho, opened July 24.
“We lost one of our beautiful Associates tonight. 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,” Snyder said.
Snyder wrote on social media: “My heart is broken, my chest is heavy, my eyes burn from the tears I’ve shed.”
Snyder said the gunman “ended his life shortly after he took the precious lives of our Associate and Customers.”
Duane Rubink, chief of the neighboring Jerome Police Department, said “it appears there was one shooter who is deceased from a self inflicted gunshot.”
In-N-Out president Lynsi Snyder said in a statement that a female employee was among the dead, taking care of customers at the time of the shooting.
Snyder did not identify the worker.
A bystander intervened during the shooting with a firearm.
Lane Koehn, 34, said he was at a stoplight near the In-N-Out when he saw a person with an AR-style rifle emerge from the drive-thru.
A man with a pistol started firing at the shooter.
Koehn said he saw the bystander with a handgun spring into action when the suspect began the shooting spree, saying he returned fire before rushing to the side of an In-N-Out employee who was shot to help get her to safety.
Koehn then saw someone in an In-N-Out uniform drag a person, also uniformed, bleeding from a gunshot wound in her chest across the parking lot. The employee, Koehn and the man with the pistol stayed until paramedics arrived for her.
“She was pretty bad off, but I don’t know. I hope she made it,” Koehn said.
Koehn claimed the hero bystander told him he was a retired paramedic and stayed by her side until an ambulance arrived.
Eyewitnesses described scenes of panic and chaos inside and outside the restaurant.
Twin Falls resident Haley Dodaro, 43, and her mother went to In-N-Out for lunch Saturday afternoon. While waiting in the drive-thru line, they saw people running across the road and workers bolting out of the restaurant.
At first, Dodaro thought there might have been a fire, but then a man directing traffic in a reflective vest said 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 said in a text message.
Nayeli Rodriguez, 40, of Burley, was inside, waiting for food with her daughters, when she heard shots from the kitchen. An employee said it was a shooting and told people to get down.
Rodriguez said an older man tried to protect her and her daughters, and they were among the last to run outside. “We were trying to get as far as we could and some angels let us in their car,” Rodriguez said in a text message.
Videos from the scene circulated across social media showing the gunman’s movements.
A driver across the street recorded video showing a person dressed in black walking up to a white car while carrying a long rifle, opening the driver-side door and popping the trunk before reaching inside. The driver who recorded the video left the scene quickly at that point, fearing the person might be retrieving additional weapons.
Koehn said he did not believe the gunman was targeting anyone specific, describing his shooting pattern as random. “You can tell he was panicking. He was not very calm and collected, running and slinging his rifle around firing,” he told the New York Times.
In the viral moment that unfolded on Saturday afternoon, police arrived at approximately 2:30 p.m. to an active shooter situation that left the busy commercial area in chaos.
The restaurant is located near a busy shopping area, with authorities estimating potentially hundreds of people nearby, calling it an “exceptionally chaotic scene.”
Multiple agencies responded to the incident including Twin Falls Police, Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho State Police and the FBI.
A shelter-in-place order for the area was later lifted and roads were being reopened as the shooting investigation continued.
Police warned: “There is a lot of misinformation going around on social media about the shooter and their identity. We would ask that people refrain from sharing information.”
Snyder’s statement concluded with a spiritual message for the community.
She ended her message by asking people to “turn to God, not in anger, but seeking comfort and strength for those who are hurting.”
Snyder also said: “I am no stranger to loss, but this is so incredibly tough, and my heart also goes out to all of the Associates and Customers who were there during this traumatic event.”
Snyder wrote: “In-N-Out will be mourning with the families and praying for them as they tread through a very painful season.”
The FBI has set up a digital media tip line at www.fbi.gov/twinfallsshooting for the public to submit images and videos related to the shooting.