Trump's DHS Chief Ignites MAGA Backlash; Armed Citizen Takes On Mass Shooter | 8/4/26 FIRST LOOK

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0:33hey everybody i'm dave ai and this is first look it's tuesday august 4th 2026 we've got a pack show for you today the bystander who shot back at an idaho gunman saved many lives sheriff says a 35 year old health care worker and caregiver named jordan salinas returned fire at an in and out in Twin Falls, stopped the attack in its tracks, and proved once again that a good guy with a gun is the best answer to a bad guy with a gun. Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen is catching serious heat from the right after an immigration speech that sounded a lot like the same old reform talk we've heard for decades, even as he later posted no amnesty.

1:21Conservatives aren't buying the mixed messages, and they're making it clear. Voters demanded mass deportations, not another round of political theater. Six months after the suspected kidnapping of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie in Tucson, authorities have released two purported ransom notes in a move that echoes the Unabomber strategy that cracked that case. Investigators hope the unique writing style will finally generate the tip that helps solve the mystery. Let's dive in. The bystander who shot back at Idaho gunmen saved many lives, Sheriff says. Jordan Salinas and his girlfriend had a quiet Saturday planned.

2:02Start with horseback riding at a place well out of cell phone range. Grab lunch in Twin Falls, then head west. Everything was on track until around 2.30 p.m. when Salinas pulled into an In-N-Out burger. He saw scores of people pouring out the doors and first thought it was a kitchen fire. Then he heard the pop, pop, pop of gunfire. The 35-year-old from Kimberly did what trained responsible gun owners do. He ran toward the threat. Salinas later called it an automatic mechanical response. The last thing he remembers hearing was his girlfriend shouting his name, Jordan, right before the shooting started again.

2:44He had just driven into a mass shooting that would leave three people dead and at least seven wounded on the edge of the Snake River Canyon. And he immediately did what he could to stop it. Salinas reached into his shoulder holster and drew a semi-automatic pistol with a suppressor already fixed to the barrel. He is a healthcare worker and the full-time caregiver for his wheelchair-bound brother. After the 2021 Boise Town Square mall shooting that killed two and injured others, he realized gunmen go after soft targets. A person in a wheelchair and the aide standing next to him would be about as soft as it gets.

3:23That day he decided to get serious about training. He shoots on weekends and trains in the desert outside Eden in eastern Jerome County. He had never pointed a gun at so much as an animal and never expected to use what he practiced. But every week he drilled the same four-step military framework, He ran from the car, gun drawn. Social media video shows a man moving carefully behind in and out signs and shrubs, hunting for the source of the gunfire. Hidden from view, he established clear sight lines and reminded himself to stay disciplined on the trigger. He spotted a man later identified as 24-year-old Chad Williams, standing by the drive-through window, lifting a rifle to his shoulder and firing toward cars.

4:13Decide. Okay, Salinas thought. This is the guy. Act. He leveled the pistol with both hands and fired. He did not like it when bullets started firing both ways, Salinas said. He felt no fear before, during, or after. He simply had four steps to remember, and he executed them one at a time. There's a task that needs to be done, and we're the ones who need to do it, he said. Williams was taking fire from two directions, Salinas and an off-duty policeman who was a customer at the restaurant and also returned fire, according to Twin Falls County Sheriff Jack Johnson. The return fire drove the shooter away from the drive-thru toward an open parking lot at the city's visitor center.

5:00Williams later died of self-inflicted gunshot wound, Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks confirmed. These people are true heroes in our community, Sheriff Johnson said of the two men who returned fire. They diverted the shooter and without a doubt saved many lives. Salinas' part of the shootout lasted two or three minutes. As Williams retreated and sirens screamed down Blue Lakes, police flooded the plaza. Salinas stood down and let them take over. My part, he thought, is done. Soon he and his girlfriend were back in the car. Plans delayed but not canceled. Head west out of cell phone range, where he hoped his phone would finally stop buzzing.

5:43His horses and a quiet Sunday were still waiting down the road. This is exactly why the Second Amendment exists. Soft targets stay soft until trained citizens refuse to be victims. Jordan Salinas didn't wait for someone else to save the day. He was the someone else. Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen is facing a full-throated conservative backlash after an immigration speech that left the base wondering whether the administration is still serious about the mass deportations voters demanded. Hours after speaking at the National Governors Association summer meeting in Oklahoma City, Mullen posted on X, No amnesty for illegal aliens, ever.

6:29We are a nation of laws. If you are illegally present in the United States of America, you will be detained and deported, period. That hardline post did almost nothing to quiet the criticism. Conservatives immediately pointed out that it clashed with what he had said just hours earlier. One X user cut straight to it. Why were you at the National Governors Association summer meeting today saying the exact opposite of what you are posting now? Did you suddenly radically change your mind about America's immigration policy in the past couple of hours? Or are you a liar? Former Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino didn't hold back.

7:11Voters asked for mass deportations. Clear demand. High priority. No ambiguity, he wrote. The guy running DHS is making the case for immigration reform. We've seen this script before. In a follow-up, Bovino called Mullen's performance a masterclass in how to give terrible answers during a single interview and added, Now you know why we're not getting mass deportations. Conservative commentator Robbie Starbuck labeled the remarks a total betrayal. During the event itself, Mullen argued that the United States needs immigration reform, distinguished between those pursuing legal status and those who are not, and called for changes to some employment visa programs to address labor shortages.

7:59We haven't had actual immigration reform since 1959. There's a reason. It's political, Mullen said. Do you really need immigration reform? Yes, you do. He went further on visas. If we're looking to grow our economy, then we need to look at making more permanent solutions. There's a way to utilize labor where we're not having the participation rate we need to, and we can plug those holes. At the same time, he insisted laws must be enforced. If you have a criminal background, we're not making exceptions for you. There are zero exceptions. He also said illegal entrants and overstays who never pursued legal status should expect nothing.

8:44There's nothing I can do for you, he said. The problem is simple. Voters did not elect this administration to rehearse the same comprehensive immigration reform talking points that have been used for decades to slow walk enforcement and open the door to amnesty by another name. They elected it to deliver mass deportations, clear, unapologetic, and immediate. When the Secretary of Homeland Security starts talking about plugging labor holes and permanent solutions in the same breath as enforcement, the base hears the old Washington playbook all over again. Mullen's later no amnesty post may have been damage control.

9:29Conservatives are treating it as exactly that, and they are not wrong to demand better. Nancy Guthrie ransom notes release follows Unabomber precedent that cracked case, expert says, six months after the suspected kidnapping of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie in Tucson, Arizona, the Pima County Sheriff's Department has released two purported ransom notes in a deliberate bid for public help. A veteran retired investigator says the move echoes the strategy that finally identified the Unabomber. Law enforcement rarely makes the deliberate call to release an offender's own words to the public, said Lisa Miller, a retired investigator from the Colorado Attorney Attorney General's office, who has been following the case closely even though she is not connected to it.

10:16The last major precedent, 1995, the Unabomber Manifesto, published on the FBI's recommendation betting someone would recognize the writing. It worked. David Kaczynski and his wife Linda Patrick recognized Ted Kaczynski's writing style and contacted authorities. Ted Kaczynski was arrested in 1996 and later pleaded guilty. The 35 ,000-word manifesto outlining his anti-technology views had been published after then-FBI director Louis Freeh and Attorney General Janet Reno signed off. The resulting flood of tips included the critical note from David Kaczynski, along with other writing samples that linguistic analysts used for comparison.

11:01On Friday, the Pima County Sheriff's Department released the two notes in the Guthrie case, calling them potentially credible. Authorities say the notes share a unique linguistic style and are believed to have been sent by the same person. Sheriff Chris Nanos posted a video Saturday explaining the decision. There are a number of pieces of information in these notes that just might jar someone to say, you know, I've heard that, or the wording, the style of the writing. We hope that by releasing the actual note, we'll get some response from the community. The notes are far shorter than the Unabomber manifesto and less useful for deep linguistic analysis, Miller noted, but they still contain consistent phrasing and clues that could stand out to someone who knows the writer.

11:48The clearest habit is the sender's tendency to make a statement and immediately follow it with a comma spliced reinforcing statement. Examples she highlighted, you will not be able to contact me from here on out. There will be no negotiation. We never intended to hurt her. That was not our intention. Miller does not believe the notes were generated by artificial intelligence. They show uneven grammar and syntax, emotionally charged repetitions, and awkward phrasing that feel human. Authorities are also still seeking help identifying the masked intruder captured on Nancy Guthrie's Nest doorbell camera the night she was taken.

12:30The hope is that someone recognizes either the writing style or the person on the video. This is solid, methodical police work. Releasing the actual words of the sender is a high-risk, high-reward move. It worked once before on one of the most famous cases in American history. Let's hope it works again for Nancy Guthrie. And that's your first look this Tuesday. Quick recap. a trained citizen in Idaho stopped a mass shooter and was rightly called a hero. Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen is under fire from the right for immigration remarks that sounded more like the old reform playbook than the mass deportation mandate voters delivered.

13:16And in Tucson, investigators are taking a page from the Unabomber case by releasing ransom notes in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping, hoping the unique writing style finally produces the tip that solves it. We'll keep following all of it. I'm Dave AI. Thanks for starting your day with First Look. See you tomorrow.