Police say the accused fired three rounds toward a departing driver after employees found the man asleep in the restaurant’s drive-thru.

MARANA, Ariz. — What began as a welfare check on a driver stopped for an extended period in an In-N-Out Burger drive-thru turned into a shooting that left the driver wounded and another customer facing attempted homicide and endangerment allegations, according to Marana police and court records described by local news outlets.

The police account centers heavily on surveillance video and witness interviews from the Sept. 28 incident at 8180 N. Cortaro Road. Investigators said the footage showed 55-year-old Charles Whipple moving from his place farther back in the drive-thru toward the other vehicle, later crossing the parking lot as the driver advanced and eventually firing three rounds toward the driver’s side window. One round, or a fragment of one, struck the driver. Police said the victim’s injuries were not considered life-threatening.

The sequence began at about 2:52 p.m., when officers were dispatched to the restaurant for a welfare check. The driver’s vehicle had remained stopped in the drive-thru lane for an extended period, police said. Local reporting based on an interim complaint said an In-N-Out employee approached the vehicle and found the man asleep. Whipple was waiting about two vehicles behind him. Whipple later told investigators that he believed he smelled alcohol coming from the man or his vehicle, according to reports describing the complaint. Police have not publicly identified the wounded driver, and the reports reviewed do not establish whether he was intoxicated.

An employee tried to wake the driver and, according to the court account reported by Arizona’s Family, sought to keep him at the restaurant while police were being contacted. The employee told investigators that Whipple approached and warned her to move back because he did not want her to get hurt. Whipple also told police he remembered hearing an employee say words to the effect of “we can’t let him leave,” referring to the driver. That statement became part of the account of what happened immediately before the gunfire, but investigators did not say the employee instructed Whipple to use force or authorized him to intervene.

The driver eventually moved through the drive-thru and stopped again, according to the Marana Police Department. Police said Whipple crossed the parking lot toward the end of the lane. When the vehicle began traveling through the parking lot, Whipple fired three rounds toward its driver’s side window. Investigators reviewing the video said the vehicle was moving slowly and that Whipple was not directly in its path. Local reports describing the complaint said investigators concluded he was not in immediate danger when the shots were fired.

That finding is a significant part of the police narrative because it addresses the circumstances surrounding Whipple’s alleged use of the gun. Authorities have accused him of attempted homicide in the second degree, also described in local coverage as attempted second-degree murder, and endangerment. Those allegations have not been proven in court. The available reports do not describe a final judicial determination about why Whipple fired or whether any defense has been formally raised. The police account instead sets out what investigators say the surveillance footage and witnesses showed at the scene.

The shooting did not end the confrontation. Police said the wounded driver stopped his vehicle after being struck. Whipple then approached him with the firearm, ordered him out of the vehicle and directed him to the ground, according to investigators. The man remained there until officers arrived. That arrival happened unusually quickly because officers responding to the original welfare-check call were not the only police nearby. Other Marana officers were investigating an unrelated matter in the area when they heard several gunshots coming from the direction of the restaurant and headed toward the scene.

When officers reached the parking lot, they found the wounded man near his vehicle and saw Whipple pointing a gun at him, the Police Department said. Officers detained Whipple without incident and gave first aid to the driver before he was taken to a local hospital. Police subsequently interviewed witnesses and examined restaurant surveillance footage before announcing Whipple’s arrest. The department said its investigation remained ongoing in its Sept. 29 public statement.

The setting also contributed to the endangerment allegation described in local coverage. Arizona’s Family reported that investigators said multiple people were on the restaurant patio when the shots were fired, including small children. The available reports do not say that any bystander was struck. Police said the three rounds were fired in the direction of the vehicle’s driver’s side as it moved across the parking lot. Authorities have not publicly released the identity of the injured man in the sources reviewed.

Whipple appeared in court after his arrest and said he had served in the U.S. Navy and previously worked as a police officer, according to Arizona’s Family and other local reports. Those statements came from Whipple during the court proceeding and do not alter the allegations in the new case. A judge set his bond at $150,000, according to reports published shortly after the shooting. The Arizona Daily Star reported that a preliminary hearing had initially been tentatively set for Oct. 9. The sources reviewed for this report did not provide a later public disposition of the Marana shooting case.

The case illustrates the difference between the concern that prompted the initial police response and the conduct investigators say followed. Officers were first called because a vehicle had been sitting in the drive-thru long enough to prompt a welfare check. Employees were dealing with a driver who had reportedly been asleep. By the time police reached the restaurant, however, the central issue had changed: gunfire had occurred, a man had been wounded, and officers encountered an armed person standing over the driver, according to the Police Department’s account.

Investigators have not publicly said in the reviewed sources whether the wounded driver was later cited, arrested or accused of any offense connected to the concern that he might have been impaired. Reports describing the interim complaint say Whipple claimed he smelled alcohol, but that assertion is attributed to him and is not a confirmed finding that the driver was under the influence. Police likewise have not released a public explanation from the victim about why he had been asleep or why his vehicle remained stopped for so long.

The clearest evidentiary account released so far comes from the combination of surveillance footage, witness statements and officers’ observations when they arrived. Police say those sources place Whipple outside the vehicle’s path when he fired, show the car moving slowly and document what happened immediately afterward. Any criminal case would ultimately require prosecutors to prove the charged offenses in court, while Whipple retains the presumption of innocence unless and until he is convicted.

The case now turns on how prosecutors and the defense interpret the same recorded sequence: a welfare call, a departing vehicle, Whipple’s movement across the lot and the three shots police say followed. The reviewed public record does not show a final disposition of the attempted homicide and endangerment allegations, leaving those questions for the court process rather than the initial police account.

Author note: Last updated Nov. 10, 2026.