Family of man killed in Twin Falls shooting remembers him as someone who ‘was there no matter what’

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The family of a man killed in a shooting at a Twin Falls In-N-Out is speaking out about their loss.

On Sunday, shortly after 2 p.m., Twin Falls Police Department responded to the restaurant for reports of an active shooter, in which three people were killed, and another seven were injured. 66-year-old Dale Schultz, from Utah, was among those killed, while his wife, Reinette, was injured.

Of heroes and broken hearts: Meet the people involved in the Twin Falls shooting

Now, a family and a community have been left grieving. Family members of Dale and Reinette spoke with ABC4.com about the moments they heard about the shooting and how they’re dealing with the loss just days later.

Devastating news

Dale and Reinette, and several other family members, were at a family reunion in Twin Falls when the shooting occurred.

“My mom had just talked to my aunt, and they were going to go to lunch and then go see family,” Samantha Mafua, Dale and Reinette’s daughter, said. “A couple minutes later, my mom called her back and said, ‘I’ve been shot.’ She said, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, I’ve been shot. I’m going to pass out,’ and so they raced there.”

When Samantha’s aunt and uncle got on scene, police wouldn’t let them down to the active scene. She and her siblings listened to this, waiting for any news, on the phone.

“I just waited on the phone, your mom’s been shot, your dad doesn’t look good, and then I was like, ‘Are they alive?’ And nobody said anything,” Samantha said.

Paige Schultz, the couple’s other daughter, said, “All I was catching was mass shooting, mom’s in an ambulance, dad, we don’t know. But it was all jumbled between, you know, wails and cries and screaming.”

The family immediately gathered their belongings and started heading to Twin Falls in the hope that they could see their father.

“Then, right before we went out the door is when we got the call from Paige that confirmed that dad had passed on,” said Brennan Schultz, son of Dale and Reinette. “It turned into some kind of hope to see him and that urgency, and then it just dissolved into a three-hour car ride of grief.”

“Whenever I call my dad, he would pick up. I don’t think he ever didn’t pick up. So I called him, and I immediately knew something was wrong, because it rang the whole time, and that never happens,” Brennan continued.

He added, “I just wanted to see if he was OK. I wanted to hear his voice one last time.”

Now, with their mom still facing a long recovery, the Schultz kids are dealing with funeral plans for their father. Throughout this all, though, they are trying to honor Dale’s legacy.

A rare kind of man

From his own children to the members of his local parish, loved ones saw Dale was a one-of-a-kind individual. He always showed up for others, through thick and thin.

“I tell everybody that I’m an independent woman, and the truth is, my dad did everything,” Samantha said. “I called my dad, and he was there no matter what.”

She continued, “He was so generous with his time and talents.”

“When I was like a teenager, he told me that the measure of someone is your ability to keep your word and do what you say,” Brennan added. “It doesn’t matter what you’re going to do or how much you’re going to do if you say something; you need to be there, and that stuck with me, and that’s just, you know, who he was.”

Dale was a well-known artist within the community, working mostly with sculptures but dabbling in other art forms as well. He was also very hands-on, with the ability to fix up whatever his family needed, for the most part.

“I think the last time I might have seen my dad was when he was fixing something under my sink, and then my drinking water fountain thing stopped working, and I texted him, I’m like, ‘Um, now this isn’t working,’” Samantha said.

Paige added, “I love dad so much, but I joke every time he came to the house to fix something, something else broke.”

One thing is clear about Dale Schultz: he did whatever he could for his loved ones.

“When my mom was working, he would make her a peanut butter toast and her coffee, and every morning, walk her out to her car. In the winter, it was always cleaned off before she even was ready to walk out the door,” Samantha said, adding that he would do the same thing for her car when she lived with them. “I’d be like, ‘Oh, who did this?’, and of course, it was my dad.”

Additionally, Dale passed on what he knew to his grandchildren. Samantha said, “Opa taught them lots of things, and they’re just going to live on and carry those things on that he taught them to be and make him proud.”

“We both like baseball. I like drawing like he did. We both liked pretty much the same things except aliens. That was one thing I couldn’t get behind,” said Elias Mafua, one of Dale’s grandchildren.

“He was the best. He treated people so nicely and honestly. He was kind of like a dad to me,” Elias continued. “He was the best person I’ve had in my life other than my mom.”

Looking ahead

Dale’s children also spoke on what they will miss most about their dad and shared some final thoughts with us.

“I’m getting married in 59 days now, and there’s a huge easel with the unfinished painting of my fiancée,” Brennan said. He added, “I feel inspired by his loss to work on myself and emulate him as much as I can.”

“I just want to hug. I’ll miss his hugs. He gave real hugs,” Samantha said.

Paige added, “I think he knew how much he meant to me, and he expressed how much he loved me.”

Additionally, his family says that Dale is probably out exploring anything and everything he couldn’t while he was living. Brennan said, “Somebody asked me if he thought that he was still here with us, and I said no, because I think he would want to go off and explore and find out all the answers.”

Finally, they thanked all of the crews at the hospital their mom is staying at and the local hotel in Twin Falls, who provided them with everything they needed in their moments of grief.

“We have so many people helping us and reaching out and offering to do things, and I’m overwhelmed by that, and I love you all and appreciate it so much,” Paige said.

A GoFundMe has been created to help with funeral costs, medical expenses, and the long-term impacts of this tragedy as Dale’s family deals with their loss.