Three people were killed and seven more were injured, some critically, in a shooting at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in southern Idaho on Saturday afternoon, a Twin Falls city spokesperson said.
Police who responded to the shooting found the body of the suspected gunman in an area near the restaurant, Twin Falls city public information officer Josh Palmer said. He did not know if the suspect was included in the fatality count.
Officials were contacting family members of victims and so were not yet releasing the names, ages or other details about the people hurt in the shooting, Palmer said on Saturday night.
Earlier on Saturday, the Twin Falls police chief, Matthew Hicks, said police were working on determining the shooter’s identity and motive, and interviewing witnesses.
“We believe the threat to the community is over,” Hicks said. “It was a very chaotic scene.”
The restaurant is newly opened in a busy shopping plaza and hundreds of people were in the area when the shooting started around 2pm.
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. “I left my car there in the parking lot.”
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.
He 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 said he was told by police to evacuate because the shooting was still active. He said the shooter fired at least three or four rounds and it was not clear whether or not anyone in particular was targeted.
Video taken by a driver from across the street captured a shooter, who appeared to be dressed in black, walking up to a white car carrying a long rifle, opening the driver-side door and the trunk. The person then walked to the trunk and reached inside. At that point the driver who shot the video left quickly, fearing that the man might be getting more weapons.
Twin Falls resident Haley Dodaro, 43, and her mother were waiting in the drive-thru line when they saw people running across the road and workers bolting out of the restaurant. A man directing traffic in a reflective vest said there was a shooter.
“People were running out crying and screaming. It was very scary,” Dodaro said.
The In-N-Out opened on 24 July as part of the company’s recent expansion to Idaho.
Police said multiple people were taken to St Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center. Hospital spokesperson Taylor Marschner said in a statement that it was “working closely with law enforcement and emergency responders as they manage the situation”.
Twin Falls, a city of about 56,000 people, is about 130 miles (205km) south-east of Boise and about 75 miles (120km) north of the Nevada border.
