The two people fatally shot Friday afternoon west of Chubbuck have been identified as a brother and sister who were enmeshed in the contentious divorce of their parents — a legal battle that had reached a boiling point in the days before the shooting.
The Bannock County Coroner’s Office identified Brandon Lee Madden, 40, and Amanda Ann Christian, 36, both of Pocatello, as the two victims who were fatally shot during an incident that left three other people injured. An assailant who law enforcement shot and killed opened fire on the group.
The gunman’s identity has not yet been released pending notification of next of kin, the Bannock County Coroner’s Office said Tuesday. The identities of Christian and Madden were released in cooperation with the Power County Coroner’s Office and Power County Sheriff’s Office.
The shooting began to unfold around 2:40 p.m. Friday near Tank Farm and Batiste roads near the border of Bannock and Power counties west of Chubbuck.
Sources have told the Idaho State Journal that three other people were wounded during the incident. Those people include Christian’s husband Matt, who was shot in the leg at the scene, and two people with no relation to the Madden family who appeared to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, passing by in a boat on the Portneuf River. One boater was shot in the shoulder and remains hospitalized in stable condition at Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello, and another person in the boat had a bullet graze the side of his head.
Matt Christian and the boater shot in the shoulder were transported to PMC via ground ambulance. The other injured boater was not hospitalized.
Law enforcement shot and killed the suspect after he opened fire near the river, first on the boaters and then on pursuing officers and deputies, authorities said. No law enforcement officers were injured.
Jocelyn Baker, a relative of Amanda Christian and Brandon Madden, has set up a GoFundMe campaign for the victims, describing the losses as sudden and devastating.
“In just minutes, our family’s entire world changed forever,” Baker wrote. She described Madden as “a devoted father, a loving son, a brother, uncle and the heart of his family” who leaves behind five children and a father with dementia. Amanda, she wrote, “was also taken from this world” in the same moment.
Reached via text Tuesday, Baker said the family is not yet ready for additional interviews.
“Right now, our focus is on honoring and remembering Brandon and Amanda,” Baker wrote. “Brandon and Amanda were both loving parents who did not deserve this. They are such pillars in our family, and this loss has been truly devastating. We just need some time to gather ourselves before moving forward.”
In the days leading up to the shooting, Amanda had been publicly posting videos and statements on Facebook related to an ongoing divorce case between her parents, Lee and Cindy Madden. Four days before the shooting, 6th District Magistrate Judge David W. Cousin entered a final decree for Lee and Cindy’s divorce, which was initially filed in January 2025.
The divorce had been marked by disputes over property, finances and access to assets, and both Amanda and Brandon had been drawn into the conflict. Amanda had been serving as her father’s power of attorney and filed sworn affidavits on his behalf. Brandon had been living at a property central to the divorce proceedings and was the subject of an eviction complaint filed by his mother in late 2024, court records show.
Text message exchanges reviewed by the Journal show that in the days immediately before the shooting, tensions over the retrieval of property escalated sharply, with both sides exchanging formal notices and warnings about access to the family’s land.
As recently as April 1, Amanda posted publicly on Facebook that she was “done staying quiet” and posted recordings of confrontations involving family members. On April 2, she posted videos of recorded conversations with her mother that shed light on their heated arguments.
Attorneys connected to the divorce case were either unavailable or declined to comment. Pocatello attorney Blake Swenson, who represented Cindy Madden, was unavailable for comment. Chip Giles, who represented Lee Madden, declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
The Power County Sheriff’s Office continues to be assisted in the homicide investigation by Idaho State Police as well as Bannock and Bingham counties. The Idaho Falls Police Department is leading the probe into the officer-involved shooting and declined to comment on the status of the ongoing East Idaho Critical Incident Task Force investigation.
Authorities said at a news conference Friday night that there is no ongoing threat to the community. Tank Farm Road, which had been closed, has since reopened.
The GoFundMe campaign for the fallen Madden siblings and their family, which had garnered about $1,400 of its $20,000 goal from 29 contributors as of Tuesday afternoon, can be found at gofund.me/c32228663. Donations can also be made via Venmo at @mimi_lynn22.