A 24-year-old West Covina resident narrowly escaped a mass shooting at an In-N-Out Burger in Twin Falls, Idaho, on Saturday, later tearfully informing her parents she was alive after the gunman killed three people and wounded seven others before taking his own life.
The woman, part of an "all-star team" brought in to train new associates ahead of the restaurant’s opening, was inside the establishment when the shooting began around 2:30 p.m. local time. Her parents, Nikki and Micheal Ahern, first learned of the incident through a news alert on the Citizen app.
Knowing their daughter was inside and unable to reach her because she had fled without her phone, the Aherns endured an agonizing wait for confirmation of her safety. She eventually contacted them using a friend's cellphone, her mother recounting the initial call with her daughter crying, "mommy, I’m alive."
During a subsequent conversation, the daughter confirmed she was safe but revealed that one of her co-workers had been shot. The Twin Falls Police Department identified the shooter as 24-year-old Chad Williams. In-N-Out president Lynsi Snyder later confirmed one of the employees killed was a female worker.
The Aherns expressed distress over the long period of uncertainty and questioned the restaurant's protocol for notifying emergency contacts during such crises. Their daughter, who is currently without a cell phone, was expected to return to Southern California on Monday.