Three killed in Idaho In-N-Out shooting; victims remembered as bright, dedicated souls

On a Saturday afternoon in Twin Falls, Idaho, gunfire erupted at an In-N-Out restaurant that had opened just days earlier as part of the California chain's expansion into the state. Three people died. Seven more were wounded. The gunman, 24-year-old Chad Williams, ended his own life as the shooting unfolded. By Tuesday, authorities had named the dead: Ashley Garibay, 23, of Stockton, California; Dale Schultz, 66, of Salt Lake City; and Christopher Claunch, 59, of Hagerman, Idaho. Police still had no clear answer for why it happened.

Garibay worked for In-N-Out and had joined the company's traveling training team in 2023, moving between locations to help bring new employees up to speed. She had started at the Stockton restaurant and dreamed of one day managing her own store. Her family described her as someone who lit up any room she entered—adventurous, outgoing, driven, with a laugh that was impossible to ignore. In-N-Out President Lynsi Snyder released a statement about her death that was raw with grief: "My heart is broken, my chest is heavy, my eyes burn from the tears I've shed."

Claunch, known to friends as "Toph," had completed a rehabilitation program for alcohol abuse at Renaissance Ranch Recovery Center in Rupert a couple of years before the shooting. The center hired him immediately after he finished, and he spent his working life helping others achieve sobriety. A friend, Garren Taylor, said Claunch had guided hundreds of people through recovery. "He was just a gift to anyone he came in contact with," Taylor said. "It wasn't about the paycheck. His attitude was: 'I get to help someone today.'"

Witnesses described chaos as shots rang out. Customers inside heard gunfire from the kitchen and were told to take cover. People in the drive-thru line saw workers bolting from the building. A man at a nearby stoplight watched as someone emerged from the drive-thru with an AR-style rifle, then saw another man with a pistol begin firing at the shooter. That civilian, along with an off-duty state trooper, confronted Williams and diverted him away from the restaurant. Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks told reporters that he believed their actions prevented additional deaths.

Among those shot and wounded was Austin James, a Sacramento native who had worked for both the Twin Falls Police Department and Idaho State Police before leaving law enforcement. His father, Marcus James, a retired Sacramento County Sheriff's Office employee, explained that his son ran toward the gunfire to confront the shooter but deliberately did not draw his own weapon—he feared responding officers might mistake him for the gunman. Austin James' wife and a friend, both emergency room nurses, treated him at the scene before he was transported to a hospital in critical condition.

Steven Pixley, riding his motorcycle near the restaurant, heard a pop and felt his left hand go numb. A bullet had entered his arm above the elbow and exited below it. His cousin Shane Klaas said the injury left Pixley without the use of three fingers, and doctors were waiting for swelling to subside before attempting surgery. Pixley had recently moved to Twin Falls, found work, and was rebuilding his life. "He had everything in front of him," Klaas said. "And then this just, I mean, this is just senseless."

By Tuesday night, Twin Falls was holding a candlelight vigil at City Park. Police had opened a support center for those affected by the shooting, where people could receive counseling and retrieve personal items left behind. Flags throughout the city hung at half-staff. Investigators continued their work, still searching for the motive that had driven a 24-year-old to walk into a restaurant on a Saturday afternoon and change the lives of everyone inside.