A brand new In N Out Burger in Twin Falls, Idaho, became the scene of a sickening Saturday rampage when a gunman opened fire, killing two people and wounding several others before dying himself.
The shooting erupted around 2 p.m. local time, sending families, employees, and customers scrambling for cover in the kind of chaos no community should have to endure.
Police later said the dead included the shooter, whose motive was still under investigation.
Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said investigators were still working to confirm the number of people injured.
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He also said authorities believed “the threat to the community is over,” a phrase that brought some relief after an afternoon of terror.
Jerome Police Chief Duane Rubink told CNN that early indications pointed to one shooter, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot.
In other words, the coward apparently ended his own life after destroying the lives of innocent people.
Witness Lane Koehn, 34, told the Associated Press he was stopped at a traffic light near the restaurant when he saw the violence unfold.
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He described seeing a person carrying what appeared to be an AR style rifle coming from the drive thru area.
Koehn said another man armed with a pistol fired at the suspect.
He also watched an employee rush to help a wounded coworker, dragging the woman across the parking lot after she had reportedly been shot in the chest.
“She was pretty bad off, but I don’t know. I hope she made it,” Koehn told the AP.
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He estimated hearing three or four shots and said he could not tell whether the attacker was targeting someone specific.
In N Out President Lynsi Snyder confirmed that one company associate was killed in the attack.
“We lost one of our beautiful Associates tonight,” Snyder said in a statement.
Snyder said the employee had been serving customers when her life was taken by what she called a disgusting person who did not value anyone else’s life or his own.
Statement from Lynsi Snyder, the owner and president of In-N-Out, following the shooting at an In-N-Out location in Twin Falls, Idaho, that left three people dead and seven others injured, some critically. pic.twitter.com/9qZp8O8CYF
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) August 2, 2026
That is about as plain and accurate as it gets, despite the usual excuse machine always waiting nearby to explain away evil.
Police responded to the restaurant parking lot for what authorities described as an active shooter situation.
2 years ago, Jordan "The Fearless Patriot" Salinas posted on Facebook "train like your life depends on it because God forbid, one day it might"
Today he helped save the lives of countless civilians from an active shooter at the In-N-Out in Twin Falls, Idaho what's chilling is… pic.twitter.com/L6VdayuDwx — Jack Duval (@jackduval) August 2, 2026
Cellphone video from inside a nearby vehicle showed a man in a black T shirt and blue pants standing between two parked Teslas while aiming what looked like a rifle toward a blue vehicle.
Two shots rang out in rapid succession, with muzzle flashes visible on the recording.
The armed man then lowered the weapon, walked away quickly, and broke into a run across the parking lot while still carrying the firearm.
The person recording the video could be heard whispering, “Oh my gosh” just before the shots were fired.
Moments later, as the suspected gunman moved away, the camera dropped as the person appeared to duck, while a panicked voice said, “Get down … I don’t have service.”
Another video taken from a vehicle stopped at a red light on Blue Lakes Boulevard North captured people running across the street as gunfire cracked in the background.
The camera turned toward the In N Out, where a person in dark clothing appeared near a white sedan in the drive thru lane while holding a long firearm.
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“He got more in the back,” one occupant said as the armed person leaned into the sedan and later opened its rear hatch.
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A witness then said it looked like “something bigger” as the person removed another long object from the vehicle.
As the vehicle sped away, one person shouted out the window, “Hey! Stop shooting! Stop shooting, bitch!”
It was a raw moment of panic, anger, and disbelief in a parking lot that had been packed with ordinary Americans just trying to grab a meal.
Authorities shut down the Perrine Bridge and nearby roads while businesses in a shopping center went into lockdown.
The Magic Valley Mall also locked down, and St. Luke’s Magic Valley urged people not to come to the hospital unless they had an emergency.
The hospital said its emergency department remained open and was working with police and emergency responders while the situation developed.
Investigators were also moving hundreds of witnesses to different locations for interviews, a massive undertaking after a violent attack in a busy public area.
A nearby chicken restaurant closed for the rest of the day out of caution.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little urged residents to “avoid the area and follow directions from law enforcement as they work to keep everyone safe.”
The FBI said it was aware of the shooting and was offering assistance to local law enforcement.
The Twin Falls In N Out had opened only one week earlier, welcoming its first customers on July 25 before this nightmare ripped through the community.
“We are heartbroken,” In N Out COO Denny Warnick said in a statement.
For the victims, their families, and the shaken people of Twin Falls, Saturday will not be remembered as the opening week of a popular restaurant, but as the day a murderous thug turned a normal afternoon into a crime scene.
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