1 minute of terror: A timeline of what happened the day of the Boise mall shooting
Dozens of witness accounts and reports from Boise police officers paint a vivid picture of the mall shooting that left three dead, including the shooter, and several others injured last year.
The Boise Police Department recently released a 465-page report on the events of Oct. 25, 2021. In roughly one minute, shooter Jacob Bergquist, who moved to Boise just 10 months before the deadly shooting, fired more than a dozen bullets at the Boise Towne Square mall. He then exchanged gunfire with police before shooting himself.
Nearly one year later, some questions remain. Accounts from the officers who first encountered Bergquist outside of the mall have not yet been made public, nor has the Critical Incident Task Force report on the officer-involved shooting, which is being investigated by the Meridian Police Department.
The following is a timeline of the day of the shooting based on officer and witness accounts, as well as security videos described in the police report.
12:45 p.m.
Surveillance camera footage provided to police by a neighbor in Bergquist’s Boise Bench mobile home park shows Bergquist arriving home on foot with a grocery bag from Albertsons. Ten minutes later, the same camera filmed Bergquist leaving on foot.
1:12 p.m.
A 2-second cellphone video shows Bergquist at the Cole Road and Fairview Avenue intersection. He is open carrying a black 9mm pistol in a holster on his left hip.
The woman who filmed the cellphone video said she recognized Bergquist on the news and submitted the video to police the day after the shooting. She told authorities she was having a discussion about open-carry laws when she saw Bergquist. The woman described him as having a look of “malice,” according to the police report.
Another witness described seeing Bergquist a short time later walking near Fairview and Milwaukee Street and told police he “had a bad feeling about [Bergquist].”
1:26 p.m.
Mall security video shows Bergquist entering the mall through Dillard’s. He walks through the interior of the mall and enters the food court, according to the police report. Seven minutes later, he buys food from Sbarro and remains in the food court for eight minutes before he starts walking through the mall once more.
1:50 p.m.
Mall security guard Jo Acker radios to control that she is contacting someone with a weapon. Security footage shows Acker approaching Bergquist on the first floor of the mall outside of the entrance to Macy’s. According to a report from an officer who watched the security footage, the conversation between Acker and Bergquist lasts about 20 seconds.
“The contact appears to be cordial at first and nothing is out of the ordinary,” the officer writes in the report.
Bergquist begins to walk away from Acker but quickly turns around and begins shooting Acker, who falls to the ground.
Ada County Emergency Dispatch receives the first report of the shooting just seconds before 1:51 p.m. Officials say dozens of calls follow.
In the next few seconds, various security cameras show people fleeing. Footage also shows Bergquist “walking backwards while shooting down the main corridor of the mall.” He turns and walks into Macy’s, where people begin hurrying up the escalators inside Macy’s. Police said a male subject — later identified as Roberto Padilla Arguelles — falls down and onto the escalator “as if struck by a round.” The man’s body “appeared to go limp as it traveled down the escalator and out of view,” police said.
1:51 p.m.
Bergquist calls someone — the person’s information is redacted in the police report, but it appears to be a relative — and says he has shot a lot of people and his family is to blame. “I have to go kill myself now,” he says before hanging up.
Bergquist exits Macy’s west entrance and reholsters his weapon, according to surveillance video. In roughly one minute, he fired more than a dozen bullets in the mall. Police found 18 shell casings on the floor in Macy’s, as well as an empty 17-round magazine. The total number of shots fired is not included in the report.
As Bergquist exits the mall, he sees a Macy’s employee calling police, according to two witness accounts. In the employee’s witness statement, she said Bergquist put his hand on his holstered pistol and told her not to call anyone before he took off running west. Another witness heard the comment.
1:53 p.m.
Boise police officers arrive and begin forming a team to clear the mall. One minute later, officers Jason Shofner and Chris Dance report seeing a suspect walking north near Dave and Buster’s. They announce over the police scanner that the person — later confirmed to be Bergquist — began shooting at them.
1:56 p.m.
Dance is hit in the eye with shrapnel. Several other officers have arrived by this time and report seeing Dance receiving medical assistance and Bergquist slumped against a dumpster on the north side of Dave and Buster’s. It’s unclear how many shots Bergquist fired at the officers, how many the officers fired back or when Bergquist fired the self-inflicted shot that later caused his death. One officer’s report notes that a bullet is missing from the magazine in Dance’s duty weapon.
One minute later, officers detain Bergquist and begin rendering first aid. He is transported in an ambulance to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise.
2:34 p.m.
The relative who Bergquist called after shooting at the mall calls Ada County Emergency Dispatch to request a welfare check. The relative tells dispatch that Bergquist called 45 minutes ago and said he shot a lot of people. The person says Bergquist has “lots of guns” and may be “going off the deep end” and has threatened himself.
The relative asked if there was an active shooter situation happening in Boise. When the dispatcher confirmed that there was, the caller became emotional, police said.
2:44 p.m.
Padilla Arguelles is declared dead at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. He was transported there by ambulance after Boise police and firefighters performed CPR and other first aid at the mall.
9:30 p.m.
Nearly eight hours after the shooting, a witness calls Boise police to say she found a bullet hole in her husband’s clothing. The couple saw Bergquist shoot Acker and ran into a nearby store as he fired shots into the mall.
11:15 a.m. on Oct. 26
Bergquist is declared dead at Saint Alphonsus.
This story was originally published October 3, 2022 at 3:25 PM.
