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26-Year-Old Trans Woman Jo Acker Killed in Boise, Idaho

Sue Kerr
7 min readOct 29, 2021

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Jo Acker via Facebook

A 26-year-old white trans woman, Jo Acker, was one victim of a mass shooting in Boise, Idaho. Jo worked at the mall as a security guard and reports indicate she bravely confronted the shooter while escorting customers out of the building. Jo is the 42nd victim of the campaign of terror and violence targeting the trans community.

Acker was one of the victims of a tragic shooting at Boise Towne Square mall, which also resulted in five people injured. She was working security at the mall at the time of the shooting, according to her friend Dominique Cairistiona. Her family said Acker ran toward the suspect to stop him, likely saving many lives. The other individual who was fatally injured in the shooting was 49-year-old Roberto Padilla Arguelles.

In a statement, the Boise Police Department said the following: “Evidence indicates the suspect was contacted by a security officer on the first floor of the building near a department store on the west side of the building. The suspect shot the security officer who died at the scene.”

Jo served three years in the Army. She had a young daughter and a long term partner, Ray Dawn. From Popular Military:

Dawn described Acker as “one of the strangest, quirkiest individuals I’ve ever known.” Dawn said Acker “talked like a ’90s mom” using…

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Sue Kerr
Sue Kerr

Written by Sue Kerr

I blog @ pghlesbian.com & tweet @pghlesbian24 GLAAD named us OUTstanding Blog in 2022 & 2019 National Media Awards Also I ❤soaps, cats, dogs & genealogy She/Her

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