Three people are dead and at least two more wounded after a gunman opened fire in the parking lot of a Twin Falls In-N-Out Burger Saturday afternoon, turning a routine Saturday lunch run into a bloodbath that has left this Idaho community reeling.
The shooting began around 2:30 p.m. local time at the shopping center location, according to Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks. Social media footage circulating online shows the assailant firing on vehicles in the parking lot, and in one harrowing clip, opening the doors of a parked car to discharge his weapon at the occupants inside. It is the kind of casual, calculated cruelty that makes you wonder what has gone so wrong in our society that someone could methodically hunt their fellow citizens on a weekend afternoon.
Twin Falls spokesman Joshua Palmer confirmed the initial death toll of three killed and two injured, but warned that the final count is “expected to be higher.” Chief Hicks stated that the suspected shooter is deceased, though it remains unclear whether he was killed by responding officers or took his own life. His identity and motivations are still under investigation, with the FBI now on scene assisting local authorities.
“We have literally hundreds of people that were in some way, shape or form in the area of this restaurant at the time,” Hicks said during a Saturday evening press conference, describing the scene as “exceptionally chaotic.” Police shut down nearby roads and bridges in the immediate aftermath, urging residents to steer clear of the area while investigators processed what has become an all-too-familiar American tragedy.
In-N-Out Chief Operating Officer Denny Warnick issued a statement expressing grief over the violence that invaded his company’s property: “We are heartbroken. Our prayers go out to our customers, our associates, and all of their families. We are working with the Twin Falls Police Department to assist in the ongoing investigation.”
The questions that always follow these events are already forming. Who was this shooter? What drove him to target a busy fast-food restaurant on a Saturday afternoon? Was this random evil, or did he know his victims? And perhaps most troubling of all, how many more times must we watch the footage, count the bodies, and pretend we are shocked before we confront whatever rot has taken hold in the American soul?
For now, Twin Falls mourns. The names of the victims have not yet been released, and families are still being notified. What should have been a simple lunch run became, for too many, their final moments. May they rest in peace, and may their families find comfort in the days ahead.
Providence watches over the bold.
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