Twin Falls In-N-Out Shooting Survivor Terry Dudley Was Between Taxi Rides When His Ordinary Afternoon Turned Into a Nightmare

A Twin Falls taxi driver was simply charging his car between rides when gunfire broke out at a new In-N-Out. What happened to him next reveals just how close tragedy came.

What began as a quiet Saturday afternoon at a brand-new Idaho restaurant turned into one of the deadliest shootings of the summer, leaving three people dead, seven wounded, and a widowed father of four caught directly in the gunman's path.

The full story of what happened to Dudley, and how his family and coworkers responded in the chaotic hours that followed, reveals just how quickly an ordinary errand can turn into a fight for survival.

A New Restaurant, An Ordinary Afternoon

On August 1, 2026, the newly opened In-N-Out Burger in Twin Falls, Idaho, looked like any other location in the chain. Workers in their red aprons and paper hats moved through the lunch rush, serving fries and welcoming customers through the door.

The restaurant had been open for barely a week. It was the company's 441st location, according to an Instagram announcement, and had drawn steady crowds since its debut.

Twin Falls sits roughly 130 miles southeast of Boise, in a stretch of the city's north side packed with hotels, retailers, and restaurants. It's the kind of place residents and travelers pass through every day without a second thought.

That changed just before 2:30 p.m., when a young man walked in carrying a gun.

Gunfire Erupts Inside and Out

Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said 911 dispatchers began fielding calls with screaming audible in the background as the shooting unfolded. Customers dove from their seats. Some barricaded themselves in the restrooms while employees bolted for the front door, spilling onto the sidewalk.

Outside, the scene was just as chaotic. The parking lot, normally filled with people charging electric vehicles or waiting in the drive-thru line, became the backdrop for gunfire that would leave lasting scars on the community.

Twin Falls resident Haley Dodaro, 43, was in the drive-thru line with her mother when she saw people running across the road and employees fleeing the restaurant. She initially assumed there was a fire until a man in a reflective vest directing traffic told her otherwise.

"So that's when we knew there was a shooting. People were running out crying and screaming. It was very scary," Dodaro said in a text message to the Associated Press.

Terry Dudley Was Simply Charging His Car

Among those caught in the parking lot was Terry Dudley, a taxi driver who had pulled in between customer rides to charge his Tesla. He never got the chance to leave before the gunfire reached him.

Dudley was sitting inside his car when the shooter opened fire, striking him twice in the back, his longtime friend and coworker James Crow told CNN. His son, Michael Dudley, later told NBC News that his father was shot in the back, near his neck.

"He was just in the car," Michael Dudley said. "He got shot, and then the car next to him got lit up, as well."

Witness video circulating from the scene shows a man in a black T-shirt firing an AR-style rifle into a parked Tesla through the windshield before jogging away through the parking lot. It remains unclear whether that vehicle belonged to Dudley.

Bleeding and in shock, Dudley managed to call Crow and tell him he had been shot. The two men have been friends for a decade, first bonding over motorcycling before eventually becoming business partners at North Star Taxi.

"He's a larger-than-life kind of guy, just a big personality," Crow told CNN. "He's boisterous, but he's still like a very gentle soul, very kind, compassionate, loves to laugh. He wants to enjoy life, he's tenacious, charismatic."

Michael Dudley had just finished an overnight bartending shift and was asleep when he woke up to an urgent phone call telling him his father had been shot. He said his father suffered severe injuries, was intubated, and had to be airlifted to a hospital.

Dudley has raised four children alone since being widowed years ago, including three sons and a daughter. His son said the family's focus now is entirely on his recovery.

Other Customers Describe a Scramble for Cover

Dudley wasn't the only person in the parking lot fighting to survive those minutes. One witness, sitting in a car with his two younger brothers while waiting for his sister to return with their food, heard the first shots and looked up to see a man walking between vehicles with a pistol.

"We were just sitting there, I was playing on my phone when I heard a couple pops and I look up and I see a gentleman walking from a white vehicle to another vehicle with a pistol in his hand," he told CNN affiliate KMVT.

He told his brothers to duck and threw himself across the front seat for cover, keeping track of the gunman's location as best he could. His sister had just ordered food and stepped into the restroom when the shooting started.

As other customers crowded in beside her to try to barricade the door, she waited until it seemed safe, then ran out through the drive-thru line, directly into the shooter's path.

"As I was running I faced the shooter head on and he pointed the gun at me," she said. "I ducked behind a white car just to have some sort of coverage." She said she spotted a pistol resting on what she believed was the gunman's gun case, grabbed it, and tried to use it, but it was jammed.

A separate witness, 34-year-old Lane Koehn, was stopped at a light just outside the restaurant when he saw someone emerge from the drive-thru carrying an AR-style rifle. He watched the shooter move erratically through the parking lot while another armed customer, positioned in the drive-thru line, fired back and appeared to draw the gunman's attention away from fleeing bystanders.

"The shooter was solely focused on him, and [it] allowed us to get out," Koehn told NBC News. "I mean, the car directly ahead of me was getting shot — it gave them time to leave." He estimated the entire ordeal lasted 10 to 15 minutes.

Koehn later pulled into a lot on the other side of the restaurant, where he saw an employee dragging a wounded coworker who had been shot in the chest. A retired EMT happened to be nearby and rushed over to help before paramedics arrived and got the victim into an ambulance within seconds, he said.

Two Bystanders Are Credited With Saving Lives

Authorities say the shooting could have been far worse without the intervention of two people: an off-duty state trooper and an armed civilian, both of whom returned fire toward the gunman during the attack.

Police believe those actions helped drive the shooter away from the restaurant and prevented further casualties. Twin Falls County Sheriff Jack Johnson called the pair "true heroes in our community," crediting their actions with diverting the shooter and saving lives.

Minutes after officers arrived on scene, a separate officer-involved shooting took place, though no one was injured. The Twin Falls officer who fired is currently under internal review, Hicks said.

The Gunman Is Identified

The shooter was identified as 24-year-old Chad Williams. He died from what investigators determined was a self-inflicted gunshot wound after the exchange of gunfire, according to police.

Hicks said investigators are confident Williams acted alone, and that his family is cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation. "Their hearts are also broken during this time," Hicks said of Williams' relatives.

A motive has not been released. Police also pushed back on social media posts that misidentified a different man as the shooter, calling those claims unfounded and urging the public to avoid spreading unverified information.

Separate video captured from a passing vehicle shows a man firing a gun outside the restaurant; police confirmed to CNN that individual was not the shooter, but rather someone unconnected to the attack.

The Toll: Three Dead, Seven Wounded

In total, three people were killed and seven others were wounded. Of those injured, two remained in critical condition as of Sunday, three were listed as stable, and two had already been treated and released from the hospital, according to updates from police.

In-N-Out confirmed one of its own employees was among those killed. Company president Lynsi Snyder addressed the loss directly in a statement posted to Instagram, describing her grief over losing a member of her staff.

"We lost one of our beautiful Associates tonight. She was taking care of our most important asset — our Customers, and her life was taken by a disgusting human who doesn't value the lives of others or his own," Snyder wrote.

She said the company would mourn alongside the victims' families and asked employees to lean on their faith during the difficult days ahead.

Law Enforcement Response Expands

The investigation quickly grew to involve multiple agencies beyond Twin Falls police, including the Twin Falls County Sheriff's Office, Nampa Police Department, Caldwell Police Department, Meridian Police Department, and Idaho State Police, all of which sent officers to assist with patrols in the city.

FBI Salt Lake City Special Agent in Charge Robert Boles said the bureau had committed its full resources to the case. "We have committed the full weight of our resources to the Twin Falls Police Department, deploying every investigative and intelligence tool at our disposal," he said, adding that evidence response teams and victim services specialists were on the ground supporting both the investigation and those affected.

The FBI also opened a digital tip line, asking members of the public to submit any photos, video, or audio recordings from the shooting to help investigators piece together what happened.

In a statement to residents, the Twin Falls Police Department sought to reassure the community that emergency services remained available despite the tragedy, even as officers from outside agencies filled in around the city.

"Even in light of yesterday's incident, we want to assure you that law enforcement services remain available to our community," the department said. "We are here if you need us."

North Star Taxi Shuts Down, Community Rallies Around Dudley

North Star Taxi, where Dudley has worked for years, posted on Facebook that it was closing for the remainder of the night and possibly the next several days. The company confirmed Dudley had survived but faced a long road ahead, and asked the community to keep him in their thoughts.

Crow set up a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the mounting cost of Dudley's hospitalization and recovery. As of this writing, it has raised more than $22,500 toward a $40,000 goal.

The fundraiser describes Dudley as a man who quietly puts others before himself, someone loyal, dependable, and devoted to raising his four children alone since being widowed. Organizers said any money raised beyond what Dudley's family needs will go toward supporting other victims and their families.

A Community Still Struggling to Process It

For both Michael Dudley and Crow, making sense of what happened has been nearly impossible. Crow told CNN he never imagined witnessing something like this in Twin Falls, a place he's always considered peaceful and far removed from the kind of violence that dominates national headlines.

"I never thought I would see this here," Crow said. Michael Dudley echoed that disbelief, telling CNN that mass shootings had always felt like distant news stories rather than something that could reach his own family.

"I was kind of in shock that it happened because while you hear about the occasional thing on the news, it all seems kind far away," he said. Asked how he felt about the man who shot his father, Michael Dudley kept his answer simple. "I'm honestly glad he's been handled and taken care of," he told NBC News.

Authorities have not yet released the identities of those killed, citing ongoing efforts to notify families. The investigation into what drove Williams to open fire that afternoon continues, even as the community works to support survivors like Terry Dudley through what's expected to be a long recovery.

For more on the investigation into the shooter himself, read our full report here.