Inset: Charles Whipple (Arizona”s Family). Background: The In-N-Out Burger where shots were fired in Marana, Ariz. (Google Maps).
One man was shot and another is behind bars in Arizona after their respective drive-thru runs at In-N-Out Burger ended in violence, law enforcement in the Grand Canyon State says.
Charles Whipple, 55, stands accused of one count each of second-degree attempted murder and endangerment, according to the Marana Police Department.
The name of the victim was not immediately released.
The incident occurred late afternoon on Monday at the fast-food location on North Cortaro Road and Arizona Pavilions Drive in Marana, a medium-sized city some 21 miles northwest of Tucson.
That afternoon, the victim had been stopped in the drive-thru line for an extended period of time, according to a complaint obtained by Phoenix-based independent TV station KTVK and local CBS affiliate KPHO, which collectively broadcast as Arizona’s Family.
Meanwhile, Whipple was waiting two cars back, police said.
At some point, an In-N-Out employee went to the stopped car, found the victim asleep inside, and tried to wake him up. Whipple claimed to smell alcohol coming from the other man or his car and then injected himself into the effort, according to law enforcement.
As the victim’s car began to drive away, Whipple walked toward it, police said. At the same time, an employee said she tried to stall the since-roused man until police could deal with the situation. The same employee recalled the defendant telling her to back away because “he didn’t want her to get hurt,” according to the charging document.
Then gunshots rang out.
Whipple allegedly fired three times at the previously sleeping man as the car finally left the In-N-Out, according to law enforcement. One of those bullets struck the victim, police said.
“After the victim stopped the vehicle, Whipple approached him, ordered him out of the vehicle at gunpoint and directed him to the ground,” police said, according to a statement obtained by local Fox affiliate KSAZ. “The victim remained on the ground until officers arrived moments later.”
The man was taken to a nearby hospital with a non-life-threatening injury, law enforcement said.
Investigators said Whipple was not in danger because he was not in the path of the fleeing vehicle and that, in any event, the vehicle was not moving fast. All the while, the patio was filled with patrons, including small children, according to the charging document.
The defendant, for his part, said he remembered one of the restaurant’s employees saying something like, “we can’t let him leave.” This alleged entreaty was apparently referencing the victim.
Whipple appeared in court on Tuesday and described himself as a veteran of the U.S. Navy and a former police officer, according to the Arizona’s Family report. He is currently detained in the Pima County Adult Detention Complex on $150,000 cash or secured bond, records show.
