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WEST COVINA, Calif. () — A West Covina family says their 24-year-old daughter is traumatized after she ran for her life when a gunman 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. Her family asked that she not be identified.
Idaho State Police said 24-year-old Chad Williams turned the gun on himself after the shooting, but did not release additional details about the gunman. Three people died in the shooting, including an In-N-Out employee, and seven others were hurt.
Michael and Nikki Ahearn said their daughter was only in Idaho for a work trip. She is from West Covina and was training employees at the Twin Falls In-N-Out, which had been open for just over a week.
READ MORE: Police confirm 3 deaths, 7 injuries after shooting at Idaho In-N-Out
The suspected shooter, identified as 24-year-old Chad Williams, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after being confronted by an armed off-duty Idaho state trooper and a private citizen.
“When you hear your kids say that, as a young adult, that they want their mommy, like I don’t have it in me to protect against that. I don’t have that thick skin,” said Michael, the woman’s stepfather.
According to her family, the woman was working when gunfire erupted, forcing her and her coworkers to run for safety.
“She’s like, ‘I’m just sorry. I had to run. I had to get out. Everybody was getting out, and I would just push the button, and I had to crawl out. I’m hiding. I’m hiding next door,'” Michael said.
Nikki said she never expected her daughter would be caught in an active shooter situation while at work.
“A flood of emotion and thoughts are running through my head, but I never thought, you know, my daughter was in a place where there was an active shooter,” she said.
As police confirmed the deaths and injuries, the family said they feared the worst.
“And I feel immense, like, just sadness in general, just for whoever that is,” Michael said.
“The greatest fear that a parent can have is that their child passes before them,” Nikki said.
The family said company policy requires employees to put away their phones while working. More than 24 hours after the shooting, they said their daughter’s phone remained part of the crime scene, leaving them with no direct way to contact her.
“When I hear that I can’t be there to give her a hug, when I can’t just call her, when I can’t just reach out whenever I feel like, like there’s nothing that we can do at all,” Michael said.
“We have no access to her. We don’t even know… which hotel room she’s at,” Nikki said.
The family said they have been told that In-N-Out is flying their daughter home, but they still do not know when. They also said they have not heard directly from the company with updates or support.
“Being able to like, be in contact with your family, like you’re taking my family out of state to better your business,” Michael said.
“She was only there a week,” Nikki emphasized.
The family said their only focus now is getting their daughter back to Southern California so she can begin to process what happened.
Eyewitness News reached out to In-N-Out about the family’s concerns regarding communication and what resources are being provided to employees who were at the scene. The company has not yet responded.
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