This still image captured from video by a witness shows the scene of a shooting that started at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant
Three people were killed and at least two others injured after a gunman opened fire near an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in a busy shopping area in Twin Falls, Idaho, on Saturday, police said.The shooter was also among the dead, Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said, adding that authorities were still working to identify the gunman and determine a motive, reported Reuters.”We believe the threat to the community is over,” Hicks told reporters. However, he said officials were still determining the exact number of people killed or injured and were in the process of notifying next of kin.”It was a very chaotic scene,” he added.The shooting was reported at around 2.30 pm local time near the popular restaurant in a high-traffic commercial district. About an hour later, authorities said the shooter was “no longer a threat.” Twin Falls public information coordinator Josh Palmer confirmed to Reuters that three people had died and at least two others were injured and that the gunman was among those killed.The shooting unfolded near a busy shopping area crowded with people at the time. Police interviewed witnesses and urged anyone with information to contact investigators.Eyewitness Lane Koehn, 34, said he was stopped at a traffic light near the restaurant when he saw a person carrying an AR-style rifle emerge from the drive-thru. He said another man armed with a pistol began firing at the suspect.Koehn said he later saw an In-N-Out employee dragging a wounded co-worker, who had been shot in the chest, across the parking lot. “She was pretty bad off, but I don’t know. I hope she made it,” Koehn said.He added that police ordered people to evacuate as the shooting was still active and that it did not appear the gunman was targeting anyone in particular.Another witness, Haley Dodaro, who was waiting in the drive-thru with her mother, said they initially thought there had been a fire before realising there was an active shooter.”So that’s when we knew there was a shooting. People were running out crying and screaming. It was very scary,” Dodaro told The Associated Press in a text message.Twin Falls County Commissioner Brent Reinke said Sheriff Jack Johnson initially informed him that five people had been hurt, though officials later said they were still verifying the casualty count.Authorities closed roads and a nearby bridge in the immediate aftermath of the shooting as multiple law enforcement agencies responded. St. Luke’s Magic Valley medical centre said it was working closely with emergency responders.Twin Falls, a city of about 56,000 people, is located around 130 miles southeast of Boise in Idaho’s Magic Valley region.
