The Good Samaritan praised as a “hero” for opening fire on Idaho In-N-Out gunman Chad Williams during a deadly drive-thru attack had spent years preparing for a crisis like this, after previously witnessing another mass shooting.
Jordan Salinas, 35, a healthcare worker who also serves as the full-time caregiver for his wheelchair-using brother, had been horseback riding with his girlfriend on the morning of the shooting. The couple later stopped for lunch at the In-N-Out in Twin Falls, where Salinas said they immediately sensed something was wrong.
A crowd was pouring out of the restaurant’s exit doors, and Salinas initially thought there may have been a kitchen fire. Then he heard the sharp, unmistakable sound of gunshots.
Acting on instinct, Salinas ran toward the gunfire — a reaction he later described to the Idaho Statesman as “automatic” and “mechanical.”
He pulled his FN Five-Seven, a semiautomatic pistol fitted with a suppressor, and moved to confront Williams while relying on the military’s four-step “Observe, Orient, Decide, Act” method.
As Salinas stepped out of the car with his weapon drawn, his girlfriend called after him. Moments later, the shooting resumed.
Video from the scene shows Salinas advancing cautiously toward the fast-food restaurant, using In-N-Out signs and nearby shrubs for cover as he moved closer.
From a concealed position, he saw Williams near the drive-thru, watched him lift a rifle to his shoulder and begin firing in the direction of vehicles.
“OK, this is the guy,” he later told the outlet was his thought process upon seeing the gunman.
He raised his pistol with both hands and squeezed off a round – the first time he ever aimed his weapon at a living target, he said.
“He did not like it when bullets started firing both ways,” Salinas told the outlet.
Williams was now taking return fire from him, and an off-duty cop who was a customer at the restaurant, Twin Falls County Sheriff Jack Johnson said.
He vacated the drive-thru and made his way toward an open parking lot at the Twin Falls visitor center. Police said he later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Three people were killed and seven others were wounded in the In-N-Out shooting, but police said the death toll would have undoubtedly been higher without the quick-thinking actions of Salinas and the off-duty cop
“These people are true heroes in our community,” Johnson said of the two men who returned fire. “They diverted the shooter and without a doubt saved many lives.”
Salinas later stood down to let police officers do their job as they streamed into the parking lot.
“My part is done,” he recalled thinking at the time.
He later said when he witnessed the 2021 mass shooting at the Boise Towne Square mall, in which two people were killed and several more were wounded, he noticed gunmen deliberately went after “soft targets.”
The hero civilian reasoned that his role as a healthcare provider for his wheelchair-bound brother would make the duo sitting ducks in such a scenario.
