The In-N-Out gunman who killed two people and wounded seven others during a rifle-wielding mass shooting in Idaho was a college dropout who previously railed against crime in chilling X posts, The Post can exclusively reveal.
Years before Chad Williams, 24, showed up at the new Twin Falls fast food joint, he expressed horror at the randomness of an armed carjacking in his hometown of Waddell, Arizona.
“Last month a man pointed an AK-47 at the door of a house only streets away from my childhood home,” he wrote in the Nov. 14, 2024 post.
X/commandante_
“He would have killed you or me for walking out of our front door at the wrong time over a truck he would sell for just $8,000.”
Williams, whose X bio said that he was a “former foster care youth” and that he participated in Boys State — a leadership program for top students — in 2019, stopped posting in July 2025.
He mostly commented on news of the day, and often wrote about crime and immigration — supporting tougher enforcement.
Williams expressed concern about random violence in New York City, and blamed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“Bragg downgraded 60% of felony cases last year, including violent crimes…New Yorkers don’t feel safe in their own city,” reads a message he re-shared on X in November 2024.
“Meanwhile, in Trump’s case, he elevated 34 charges to felonies…It’s time for DAs that prioritize public safety over politics,” it said.
Williams also posted about protecting the First and Second Amendments.
“Thank you to [Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna] for cosponsoring HR 9534, the National Constitutional Carry Act. No one should have to beg the government to exercise a constitutionally protected right anywhere in the country,” read another post he re-shared.
“Free Speech is the bedrock of Democracy and must be protected at all costs,” another said.
Chillingly, Williams wrote about using guns to commit crimes during an argument over gun laws with other X users.
“Many crimes have been solved because of a traceable firearm. Obviously many haven’t. This is a reason [for the government to register firearms] other than ‘it’s only for disarming populations’ as you stated. Is it a good reason to surveil the general population? Not particularly, and another infringement,” he wrote in the tense July 2025 thread.
Despite having a clear interest for politics and national events, Williams – who turned his gun on himself following the harrowing shooting this weekend – only attended the College of Southern Idaho for a year, from August of 2022 through December of 2023, the school confirmed to Idaho News 6 on Monday.
Records show he was in student government – until the rest of the council unanimously voted to impeach him in February 2023 meeting after he skipped multiple meetings.
Elijah Moseley, who served on the student government, told the outlet that Williams’ removal was made for “procedural” reasons, but didn’t elaborate.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the gunman studied during his short stint at the CSI, but he did not graduate with any credentials, CSI President Dean Fisher reportedly said – and noted that the school was cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation into the In-N-Out shooting.
Williams, who appeared to be armed with an AR-style rifle, began opening fire inside the In-N-Out at around 2 p.m. Saturday, before the shooting spilled into the parking lot, Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said during a Sunday news conference.
Video taken from the chaotic scene showed him firing the rifle at the driver’s-side window of a blue Tesla while two Good Samaritans – Jordan Salinas, 35, and off-duty police officer Austin “AJ” Scott – began to fire back at him, driving Williams away and “preventing further casualties,” Hicks said.
A 23-year-old In-N-Out worker, Ashley Garibay, and customer Cristopher Claunch, 59 – who had been thrilled to visit the restaurant for the first time after its July 24 opening – were killed.
Two of the seven wounded people have been released from the hospital, while three are in stable condition and two remain in critical condition, Idaho News 6 reported.
