Security guard killed in Boise mall shooting is identified by family
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Sally Krutzig, Idaho Statesman
BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Family members have identified one of the shooting victims as a 26-year-old Boise Towne Square mall security guard named Jo Acker.
On Monday afternoon, a man fired shots at the mall. Police confirmed that two people died and four others were injured.
“I can’t even put into words how completely devastated and shattered I am,” Acker’s sister, Shawna Lannigan, wrote on social media. “Jo you were always kind and loving. You always had such an enormous heart of gold. I always felt like your keeper. I always wanted to protect you and you always wanted to protect others. You were and are and always will be a hero. I love you to the ends of this earth and beyond. I will miss you until we meet again!”
Acker identified as a transgender woman on Facebook. Some family members identified the victim as Joe or Joseph in online posts. Acker’s social media profile asks that people “(please) call me Jo.”
Lannigan wrote that Acker “was trying to stop an active shooter. The police said (Jo) saved people.”
Both Lannigan and another sister, Tiffany Luna, paid tribute to Acker’s life, with Luna calling the security guard “a hero” who “will be greatly missed,” and “the type of person that always wanted to help people.”
“Because of (Jo’s) heroics many lives were saved,” Luna wrote.