Jordan Salinas returned fire after seeing the gunman shooting at vehicles outside the Twin Falls In-N-Out. An off-duty police officer also returned fire. Their combined gunfire caused the attacker to retreat from the drive-through area into a nearby parking lot. Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said investigators believe their actions prevented further casualties by driving the shooter away. The attacker, Chad Williams, was then found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police. They have credited both men with interrupting the attack and forcing the gunman to flee, but they have not said that either fired the fatal shot or even confirmed that either wounded him.
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Three people were killed and seven others were wounded in the In-N-Out shooting, but police said the death toll would have undoubtedly been higher without the quick-thinking actions of Salinas and the off-duty cop
“These people are true heroes in our community,” [Twin Falls County Sheriff Jack Johnson] said of the two men who returned fire. “They diverted the shooter and without a doubt saved many lives.”
Salinas later stood down to let police officers do their job as they streamed into the parking lot. . . .
More detail from the local Idaho Statesman.
Jordan Salinas and his girlfriend had planned a quiet Saturday, starting with horseback riding in Hagerman, safely out of cellphone range. They’d stop for lunch in Twin Falls, he thought, then hit the highway west.
All was going according to plan; Salinas pulled into the In-N-Out Burger off of Blue Lakes Boulevard around 2:30 p.m. Chaos followed as he saw scores of people fleeing through the doors. He figured it was a kitchen fire. And then he heard the “pop-pop-pop” of gunfire. . . .
He started taking his training seriously that day, he told the Idaho Statesman on Sunday. He shoots on weekends and trains in the desert outside of Eden, a small town in eastern Jerome County. He’d never pointed his gun at so much as an animal, he said, and never thought he’d need to use anything he practiced. Yet he drilled a four-step approach borrowed from the military, every week, always the same:
Observe. Salinas ran from the car, gun drawn. Video posted to social media shows a man slinking behind In-N-Out signs and shrubs, seeking out the source of the gunfire.
Orient. Hidden from view, he established sight lines. He reminded himself to stay disciplined on the trigger. Soon, he saw a man, who police later identified as 24-year-old Chad Williams, standing by the drive-through window. He watched as Williams lifted a rifle to his shoulder and fired toward cars.
Decide. “OK,” Salinas thought. “This is the guy.”
Act. He leveled his pistol with both hands, and fired.
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