WEST COVINA, Calif. — A West Covina family says their 24-year-old daughter is traumatized after running for her life when an armed suspect opened fire at an In-N-Out restaurant in Twin Falls, Idaho.
The woman, who had been sent to Idaho to help train employees at the newly opened restaurant, survived the shooting, but her family says she has barely been able to speak since. The family asked that her identity not be revealed.
Idaho State Police said Chad Williams, 24, shot himself after the shooting, though they provided no additional details about the suspect. Three people died in the incident, including an In-N-Out employee, and seven others were injured.
Michael and Nikki Ahearn said their daughter was in Idaho on a work trip. She is from West Covina and had been training staff at the Twin Falls In-N-Out, which had been open for just over a week.
According to her family, the woman was working when the gunfire erupted, forcing her and her coworkers to run for safety.
“She was saying, ‘I’m so sorry. I had to run. I had to get out. Everybody was getting out; I just kept pressing the button and I had to crawl out. I’m hiding in the place next door,'” her stepfather, Michael, said.
Nikki said she never imagined her daughter would be caught in an active shooter situation while at work.
“A flood of emotions and thoughts go through my mind, but I never thought, you know, that my daughter would be in a place where there was an active shooter,” she said.
As police confirmed the deaths and injuries, the family feared the worst.
“And I feel immense sadness overall, just for whoever the victim was,” Michael said.
“The biggest fear a parent can have is their child passing before them,” Nikki said.
The family said company policy requires employees to store their phones while working. More than 24 hours after the shooting, they said their daughter’s phone remained part of the crime scene, preventing them from reaching her directly.
“Knowing that I can’t be there to give her a hug, that I can’t just call her or communicate with her whenever I want… I feel like there’s absolutely nothing we can do,” Michael said.
“We don’t have access to her. We don’t even know… what hotel room she’s in,” Nikki said.
The family said they have been told In-N-Out will fly their daughter back home, but they do not know when that will happen. They also said they have not received direct communication from the company with updates or support.
“It’s about being able to be in contact with your family; at the end of the day, they’re taking my family out of state to benefit their business,” Michael said.
“She had only been there a week,” Nikki said.
The family said their only priority now is bringing their daughter back to Southern California so she can begin processing what happened.
The news organization contacted In-N-Out about the family’s concerns regarding communication and what resources are being provided to employees who were present at the shooting scene. The company had not responded as of publication.