BOISE BENCH, Idaho — In October of 2021, a gunman opened fire at Boise Towne Square Mall, killing two people and injuring four others.
Mariela Contreras was there that day. She has called Boise home since she was a young child, and she said trips to Boise Towne Square Mall were just part of growing up here.
"Not once did it occur to us that something like that could happen and it never felt unsafe," Contreras said. "It never felt like we were in any kind of danger up until that point."
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That changed on October 25th, 2021. Contreras was 18, working as an assistant manager at Zumiez.
"It was very typical. We didn't have a whole lot going on in the store," Contreras said.
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Then she heard something she couldn't explain.
"I started hearing these really loud popping sounds, and I remember turning to look at the other assistant manager. We couldn't pinpoint what could have made that sound, and it wasn't until we both looked back at the front entrance and we saw people running," Contreras said.
Contreras said they locked the store and ran to the back.
"That is, I think, where my memory kind of starts to get a little foggy. We were in the back room, I honestly can't tell how much time had gone by," Contreras said.
According to Boise police, they responded within minutes of the call. Two people were killed: Roberto Padilla Arguelles and mall security officer Jo Acker.
Contreras said Acker would regularly stop by the store, checking in and making sure everything was okay. That morning, Contreras had seen Acker.
"I honestly had just this like horrible feeling in my stomach. I don't know if it's just because I saw Jo that morning, but I kind of knew or felt that maybe Jo was unfortunately one of the people who passed," Contreras said.
Authorities said the gunman, Jacob Bergquist, also died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Contreras returned to the mall just days later. And for years, she kept coming back.
"A lot of it was the community. I really loved everything I got to do with the people that I did," Contreras said. "You get to interact with so many members of the community, and so that's why I stayed for so long after."
But staying didn't mean things went back to normal. Contreras said the outgoing freshman in college she was before the shooting changed.
"It took a couple of months, maybe even a couple of years for me to feel comfortable going into larger spaces or feeling like I could let my guard down. Even at times I find that loud noises really get me anxious," Contreras said.
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Five years later, those moments haven't completely gone away. But neither has the community Contreras says helped her through them.
"You can't expect someone to understand until they've gone through something like that. And so, now I reflect on all of like the pain and the trauma that the community went through, and I'm honestly really proud of how a lot of us have come out of it," Contreras said.
