(FiveNation.com)- On Monday, October 25, a 27-year-old man named Jacob Bergquist walked into the Boise Towne Square mall in Idaho and opened fire, killing an Army veteran, 26-year-old Jo Acker, and 49-year old Roberto Padilla Arguelles. Five others were wounded.
Acker, 26, who was a transgender, had served as a forward observer in the US Army for three years before taking a job as a security guard at the Boise Towne Square. She is now being hailed as a hero for attempting to stop Bergquist when he began his shooting spree.
Monday afternoon, Boise Police received several calls from Boise Towne Square reporting shots fired. Callers described the shooter as a white male dressed in black and carrying multiple weapons. Evidence shows that Bergquist was first confronted by Acker who was shot and killed at the scene. He then fired several more rounds, shooting a glass escalator and hitting Arguelles, who later died at a hospital.
Bergquist then walked through the mall, firing rounds into the floor, which led to a 52-year-old woman and a 23-year-old woman being injured. Another man was injured when he fell while trying to escape the mall.
About three minutes after the initial report, responding officers saw the suspect running from the mall area. They exchanged gunfire with Bergquist outside a nearby business along a busy road.
A 68-year-old woman who was driving by was shot and wounded in the gunfight. A Boise police officer was also injured when the suspect shot through the officer’s vehicle window. The bullet struck the officer’s hat but he was injured by flying shards of glass. The officer was treated and released from the hospital.
Police found 18 spent shell casings inside the mall, and the investigation shows that the shooter had multiple guns and ammunition.
Bergquist was shot in the exchange and died in the hospital the next day.
According to Boise Police Chief Ryan Lee, Bergquist was known to the department for past reports of disorderly conduct and trespassing, but he had never been arrested. Mall security guards had also previously confronted Bergquist for disorderly behavior, Lee said.
