An October 2024 Facebook post by Jordan Salinas has gone viral after he fired at a gunman during a shooting at an In-N-Out in Twin Falls, Idaho. The gunman was identified as Chad Williams, 24, who killed himself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said at a press conference Sunday, August 2.
Salinas, 35, is being hailed as a hero after the armed bystander engaged with the shooter, possibly helping drive him away from the scene and preventing more casualties.
Salinas told the Idaho Statesman that he started training to use his weapon more seriously after a shooting at a mall in Boise, Idaho, in 2021. His 2024 post, which features a YouTube video of him training, is captioned, “Sundown desert drill with the suppressed FN Five-seveN USG. Firing Vanguard 55gn FMJ 5.7x28mm subsonic ammunition. Tactical Solutions Axiom suppressor. Shoulder cross draw, manual safety, to triple tap – 1.3 seconds. 1 bravo, 2 charlie’s on silhouette at 20yds on this pass. Decent but I’m aiming for a little more A zone action”.
It adds, “Train like your life depends on it. Because God forbid, one day it might. Stay free, stay safe and stay frosty.”
Salinas told the Idaho Statesman that he shoots on weekends and trains in the desert. However, he said that he had never pointed his gun at even an animal before the Twin Falls shooting.
Salinas, a healthcare worker, told the outlet that he saw people fleeing after he had pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot with his girlfriend. When he heard gunfire erupt, he ran toward it with his semiautomatic pistol drawn. He saw Williams standing by the drive-thru window and firing at cars, and fired his own pistol.
He explained that his part took just two or three minutes. The shooter soon retreated and police officers arrived, and Salinas stood down and let them take over.
The Twin Falls shooting
Williams appeared to be armed with an AR-style rifle. He opened fire at the restaurant around 2 pm and then spilled into the parking lot in what Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks described as a “very chaotic” scene.
An In-N-Out employee dragged a wounded co-worker across the lot while other people tried to help until paramedics arrived. Video captured from a nearby vehicle, which surfaced on social media, showed Williams moving through the parking lot before pointing a rifle toward the driver’s-side window of a blue Tesla and firing twice. He then lowered the gun and moved away from the vehicle before running across the lot with the weapon still in hand.
Williams acted alone. His family has been cooperative in the investigation, per the New York Post.
“Their hearts are also broken at this time,” Hicks said of Williams’s family.
While the victims have not been named, we do know that an associate at the fast-food chain was killed in the shooting, which was confirmed by In-N-Out Burger’s president Lynsi Snyder in a statement.
Terry Dudley has been identified by his son and his employer as one of the injured. North Star Taxi wrote on Facebook that Terry is one of its drivers. It confirmed that he is alive but has a “long road ahead of him.”
