BOISE, Idaho — City officials and community members alike continue to praise law enforcement's quick response to Monday's deadly shooting at Boise Towne Square.
The suspect in the shooting, who has been identified as 27-year-old Jacob Bergquist, died at a local hospital on Tuesday morning, less than 24 hours after the traumatic incident. Two additional people were killed in the shooting and three others suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Among those praising local law enforcement is retired Boise Police Chief Mike Masterson.
"When the chips are down, our law enforcement agencies, Idaho State Police, Garden City, Meridian, the federal partners, they are all responding to an incident like this," Masterson said. "And this is what we train for and unfortunately, it happened here. We like to think it happens elsewhere and not here, but when it did, I was impressed with the coordination that happened with having so many resources and the fact that the shooter was quickly identified and removed as a threat."
Responding officers were at the scene of the shooting in under two and half minutes and were immediately met with gunfire, according to Boise Police Dept. (BPD) Chief Ryan Lee.
"When the 911 Center receives a call like this, they would hit an alert tone," Masterson said. "An alert tone is distinguished from routine types of calls that officers handle. It is something that is critical in nature. The alert tone would go out and all of the law enforcement agencies in our county would receive the same information simultaneously as the Boise Police Department, thus what generated the large response of law enforcement agencies to the mall yesterday. So if officers are not on something critical, they are responding red lights and siren to this event."
Masterson was chief of BPD in 2008 when multiple agencies trained for an active gunman scenario at the Boise Towne Square. The training exercise involved 200 emergency responders.
Masterson said multi-agency coordination training is conducted quarterly in order for officers to be prepared.
"It would be coordinated by either the primary officer in that jurisdiction, in this case probably a supervisor would take control," Masterson said. "You've got the 911 Center operators who are critical in the whole equation here because they are getting intelligence and information and relaying it to officers who are going very fast at the scene trying to determine a plan. That officer is often responsible for establishing a perimeter and developing entry teams that go in and locate the shooter and stop the threat."
Lee said the investigation is still in very early stages and added that BPD has been working with local, state and federal partners to process the crime scene.
"It was sad and unfortunate that it happened in Boise, Idaho. We're certainly not immune to situations like this," Masterson said. "But I can tell you I was very proud of the response and the way the officers handled it."
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