2026 Twin Falls shooting

Did You Know?

• The restaurant replaced an Outback Steakhouse location and is the company's 441st location.
• Williams studied at the College of Southern Idaho from August 22, 2022, to December 14, 2023, and did not graduate.

Shooting

Around 2:29 p.m. MDT, police got the first calls about an active shooter at an In-N-Out Burger. The attacker, 24-year-old Chad Williams, started by driving up to the restaurant’s payment window. There, he used a handgun to kill Ashley Garibay, an employee. After that, Williams moved forward in the drive-through lane, parked, got out of his car, and shot and killed Christopher Claunch, who was sitting in another vehicle.

A former Twin Falls police officer and former Idaho state trooper, Austin Scott James, ran toward the scene and confronted Williams. Williams shot and wounded James. James then pulled back, drew his own pistol, but was stopped and pulled away by others because of his injuries. Williams went back to the payment window, where he fired at In-N-Out employees who were trying to help Garibay. He lowered his handgun, then raised it and fired again. At that point, the handgun jammed. Williams retrieved a rifle from the back of his car.

While Williams was getting the rifle, Steve McClain, an off-duty Idaho state trooper who was inside the restaurant, moved past fleeing employees toward the payment window. Williams ran past that window and shot at nearby customers. He then returned to the payment window and exchanged gunfire with McClain. Williams pulled back from the window, then came back and fired into it again, hitting a man in the abdomen who was trying to help McClain and aid Garibay. That man had his son with him. Williams then went to the food window, saw no one inside, and moved away from the restaurant toward Blue Lakes Boulevard North.

A woman fleeing the shooting accidentally ran toward Williams near the drive-through windows. When she spotted him, she hid behind his parked car. She picked up the handgun Williams had left behind, but it was jammed, so she dropped it and ran. Williams then shot at vehicles stopped at a red light on Blue Lakes Boulevard North, hitting three people. Two sisters-in-law were struck: one was hit in the face and critically injured; the other, who was six months pregnant, suffered less serious injuries.

Defenders

Austin Scott James originally lived in Sacramento, California before relocating to Twin Falls. He had prior employment with both the Twin Falls Police Department and the Idaho State Police. During the incident, James was in a drive-through lane accompanied by his wife and a friend when Williams began shooting. James instructed them to remain in the vehicle and moved toward Williams.

He did not pull out his firearm until after being shot, because he was concerned that responding law enforcement might mistake him for the attacker. Steve McClain, an Idaho State Police trooper, was off duty when the violence started. He exchanged gunfire alongside Salinas and later guided arriving officers to the gunman’s position. McClain had previously received recognition for his on-duty actions.

In 2016, he was honored for aiding a 35-year-old woman who was struggling to breathe on the side of an interstate. In 2020, he earned the Idaho State Police’s Life Saving Award for rescuing four people from a burning building, alerting nearby residents, and helping a man and his dog escape heavy smoke. Jordan Salinas, 35, lives in nearby Kimberly, Idaho. He stated that he began serious firearms training after a mass shooting at the Boise Towne Square in October 2021, which left three dead (including the shooter) and four injured.

Following the Twin Falls shooting, a silhouette of Salinas confronting Williams was printed on stickers and t-shirts bearing the phrase “Idaho shoots back.” On August 14, Salinas received a 25-ounce silver bullet from Money Metals, a precious metals dealer, during a ceremony attended by state officials.

Aftermath

Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks credited Salinas and McClain during a press conference for helping to push the suspect away from the area, which he said kept the number of victims from rising. In another press conference, Hicks described Stuebe as a hero, saying his encounter with the shooter gave people the window they needed to get to safety. Sheriff Jack Johnson of Twin Falls County also praised Salinas and McClain, calling them true community heroes who drew the shooter’s attention away from others and unquestionably saved lives.

The FBI said on August 2 that it was helping with the investigation and set up an online tip line that same day for people to send in photos and videos of the incident. After the shooting, officers from Boise, Nampa, Caldwell, Meridian, and additional Idaho State Police troopers arrived in Twin Falls to back up the local police and sheriff’s office. Police Lieutenant Steven Gassert noted that the mass shooting, along with a separate shooting elsewhere in the city the same day that involved a fleeing suspect, had stretched the department thin, but help from other agencies filled the gaps.

The Twin Falls Visitor Center stayed closed for two days after the shooting. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare sent behavioral health and crisis workers to help the community, working with local healthcare providers and community groups to connect those affected with the right services. Nearby Swig and Mo’ Bettahs Hawaiian Style Food remained closed the next day because of investigations, and a Chick-fil-A in the area shut down for the rest of the day due to the events. North Star Taxi, which employed one of the critically injured victims, stopped its taxi operations temporarily in response.

Reactions

Idaho’s senators, Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, posted on social media that they were keeping an eye on the situation. Crapo said he was thankful for how quickly Idaho’s first responders acted. Risch added that he and his wife, Vicki, were praying for everyone’s safety. Representative Mike Simpson, whose district includes Twin Falls, offered his condolences to the victims. He praised local law enforcement, first responders, and an armed civilian who confronted the shooter, saying they acted bravely and kept the death toll from rising. Simpson stated, “We owe them all a debt of gratitude for their selfless service.”

Governor Brad Little took to social media to ask Idahoans to “join me in keeping the Twin Falls community in your prayers.” He also urged people to follow law enforcement’s instructions and stay away from the shooting scene. Attorney General Raúl Labrador wrote that he was “praying for everyone in Twin Falls” and gave the same advice as the governor, so that “first responders can do their jobs.”

Two days after the shooting, the City of Twin Falls and its city council put out a joint statement written by Mayor Jason Brown. In it, Brown said the city was “heartbroken” by what happened, expressed condolences to the victims, and thanked first responders. He added that the community was “struggling to understand how something so senseless and tragic could happen here and how so many lives could be changed in an instant.”

In-N-Out CEO Lynsi Snyder released a statement saying her “heart is broken, my chest is heavy, my eyes burn from the tears I’ve shed” over the attack, which killed an In-N-Out employee and some customers. The company’s chief operating officer, Denny Warwick, said the business was “heartbroken” and was cooperating with the investigation.