Police released video Friday of a mass shooting that killed three people at an Idaho In-N-Out Burger, and praised an employee from a nearby store who engaged the gunman outdoors, slowing him down and possibly preventing more deaths as authorities were catching up.
The story of heroism told by police for the first time adds to the list of at least three more people who confronted the gunman with their own weapons as well as numerous others who rushed to comfort victims.
“What happened here was violent, frightening and deeply traumatic,” Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said during a news conference.
The video revealed more details of the chaotic scene last weekend. The gunman walked up to the drive-thru window four times and opened fire, killing an In-N-Out employee, police said.
Ten people were shot — inside the restaurant, directly outside, on an adjacent busy road and at a car charging station in a Twin Falls visitors center lot, Hicks said.
He said investigators still don’t have a motive for the shooting. The gunman, Chad Williams, 24, killed himself.
It should have been a “normal Saturday afternoon,” Hicks said. “Employees showing up for work. Visitors coming to see our beautiful city. Instead they were confronted with chaos, fear and now loss.”
A man who encountered the gunman is a ‘hero’
As the shooting unfolded, employees from nearby stores fled to a walking trail. When the gunman headed to the trail, he came across two people, including one with his hands in the air talking to him, according to the video.
That man distracted the gunman from possibly pursuing others on the trail. Williams subsequently killed himself as police closed in. His body was found near a canyon.
“To that young man, you are a hero,” Hicks said. “Your courage, your composure, your selflessness in that moment likely gave others the time they needed to escape harm. This community is grateful for you, and we will never forget what you did that day.”
Hicks also praised the work of an off-duty state trooper, who shot at Williams from inside the restaurant, and former police officer A.J. James, who was wounded while confronting him. Authorities previously credited an armed civilian who fired back and diverted Williams from the restaurant.
An off-duty officer helps the wounded
James ran toward the sound of gunfire from the drive-thru window, while the off-duty officer inside the In-N-Out exchanged gunfire with Williams through the window and directed workers out of the building, Hicks said.
He acted “heroically and unbelievably” to try to slow down the shooter, the police chief said, declining to release the off-duty officer’s name.
Braxton Steube said he was the person who encountered Williams on the trail after fleeing a Dick’s Sporting Good store.
“I said, ‘I have a family.’ I said, ‘You don’t have to do this. I’ll tell you whatever you want. I’ll do anything,’” Steube told KMVT-TV. “He started to like tear up a bit, it seemed. And he said to me, ‘Just get away from me, man.’”
Steube said the gunman shot at him and missed.
The Twin Falls In-N-Out, 130 miles (210 kilometers) southeast of Boise, the state capital, had opened in July as part of the chain’s expansion into Idaho.
Police identified those killed as Ashley Garibay, 23, of Stockton, California; Dale Schultz, 66, of Salt Lake City; and Christopher Claunch, 59, of Hagerman, Idaho.
Williams had briefly attended the College of Southern Idaho and previously lived in Arizona.
