Roberto Padilla Arguelles, a 49-year-old Hispanic male from Rupert, Idaho, was tragically killed on October 25, 2021, while shopping for gifts for his family at the Boise Towne Square mall. He was looking forward to returning to his home in Zacatecas, Mexico, in two weeks to reunite with his wife and three children. Arguelles worked as a truck driver, splitting his time between Idaho and Mexico to support his family.
On that Monday afternoon, a man named Jacob Bergquist, 27, of Boise,
opened fire inside the mall. Bergquist fired approximately 18 rounds, striking and killing a security guard, Jo Acker, who had confronted him. He then shot Arguelles, who was on an escalator. Two other women were also injured inside the mall from rounds fired into the floor. After exiting the mall, Bergquist exchanged gunfire with law enforcement, injuring a police officer and a woman in her vehicle, before he died at a local hospital the following day from what was later determined to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The investigation into the shooting revealed that the suspect, Jacob Bergquist, had previous encounters with mall security regarding his possession of firearms on the premises. In the months leading up to the shooting, he had been approached by security multiple times for carrying a gun in the mall, which was against their policy. He was also a convicted felon, which under federal law prohibited him from possessing a firearm. Despite these encounters and his criminal history, no legal action was taken to prevent him from returning to the mall.
In the wake of the tragedy, Roberto Padilla Arguelles's family filed a lawsuit against the owners of the Boise Towne Square mall, the security company, the City of Boise, Ada County, the Ada County Prosecutor's Office, and the Idaho State Police. The lawsuit alleges that these entities were negligent and failed to take reasonable actions to protect the public from Bergquist, given his known history of concerning behavior and possession of firearms. The family has been devastated by the loss of a man described as a kind, responsible, and honest person whose main purpose in life was to care for his loved ones.
