Boise mall security provider cited in shooting investigation by Department of Labor
The security company hired by Boise Towne Square exposed its employees to danger and failed to follow its own procedures prior to the fatal shooting at the mall in October, a federal investigation found.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a news release that it began its inspection after the Oct. 25 shooting that resulted in the death of one mall employee, 26-year-old security guard Jo Acker.
A 49-year-old customer, Roberto Padilla Arguelles, also was killed in the shooting, and four people were injured.
The shooter, Jacob Bergquist, later died following a shootout with police.
“Professional Security Consultants’ policies and procedures did not effectively address the risk of gun violence, a recognized hazard in the security services industry,” OSHA Area Director David Kearns said in the release. “Every worker has the right to a safe and healthful workplace. This employer must provide enhanced safeguards and training to ensure workers have the knowledge and tools to better protect themselves against assault.”
The OSHA citation indicates that federal authorities took issue with the company’s decision to have security workers approach all armed individuals who had entered the mall rather than contemplating a “no-approach policy for high-risk situations” that would include calling law enforcement immediately.
Professional Security Consultants Inc., a Los Angeles company with about 2,900 workers, was cited for one “serious” violation and fined $14,502 after it exposed employees to hazards that cause or are likely to cause death or serious injury without properly protecting employees, according to a copy of the OSHA citation obtained by the Idaho Statesman.
The citation was filed on Monday.
Security employees were expected to enforce the mall’s code of conduct, which includes a ban on firearms inside the mall, according to the citation. Hazards of employment at the company could include “physical assault and homicide while providing security services,” the citation said.
On the date of the Boise mall shooting and in prior instances, security employees were “exposed to verbal and physical assaults, including potential gun violence,” the citation added. “This included but was not limited to an individual who repeatedly and openly violated the property owner’s prohibition of firearms in an argumentative and escalating nature.”
Mike Petersen, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Labor, told the Statesman: “The policies and procedures in place were not adequate and were not communicated to those security officers effectively enough to provide them a safe workplace.”
In its citation, OSHA suggested the company could enforce the “no-approach policy … such as when a threatening or repeat offender is observed on mall property carrying a firearm.”
The OSHA citation said that a no-approach policy “should require security to immediately contact law enforcement while maintaining security video surveillance to detect any threatening or unusual behavior until the individual either leaves the property or law enforcement arrives and the situation is resolved.”
Other recommendations from OSHA include developing a workplace violence prevention program, better identifying and tracking high-risk people or habitual offenders of the no-firearm policy, installing more signage about the mall’s ban on firearms and conducting regular active shooter drills, according to the citation.
According to a Boise Police Department news release, security footage from the mall shows that Bergquist was open-carrying a weapon for around 40 minutes inside the mall on Oct. 25 — and law enforcement was not contacted during that time. After Acker approached Bergquist and spoke to him, he began to walk away before turning and shooting, police have said.
According to Ada County Emergency Dispatch records obtained by the Statesman through a public records request, police received calls about Bergquist three times in the span of a few months leading up to the fatal mall shooting — including once because he had a gun holstered on his hip and two ammunition magazines “strapped to his back” at the mall.
The other two incidents were at other area businesses.
Professional Security Consultants has 15 weekdays to contest the citation. If it is not contested, the violation must be “abated” by June 10.
The security company and the mall did not respond to requests for comment.
This story was originally published April 26, 2022 at 3:44 PM.
