The killer in Salt Lake City turns out to be a “Bosnian refugee.” Sudden Jihad Syndrome? I don’t know. But I do know that that is one possibility that will almost certainly remain unexplored by investigators.
“Police: Teen Shot Mall Victims at Random,” by Jennifer Dobner for AP, with thanks to all who sent this in:
SALT LAKE CITY Feb 13, 2007 (AP)”” A trench coat-clad teenager who opened fire on shoppers at a mall had one thing in mind: “to kill a large number of people,” and he likely would have killed more than five had an off-duty officer not confronted him, the police chief said Tuesday.
“There is no question that his quick action saved the lives of numerous other people,” Police Chief Chris Burbank said of the officer.
Burbank identified the gunman as Sulejmen Talovic, an 18-year-old who lives with his mother in Salt Lake City, and said he had a backpack full of ammunition, the shotgun he was using and a .38-caliber pistol.
The teen killed five people and wounded four at the Trolley Square mall, including two people shot in the parking lot as he arrived around 7 p.m. Monday, another at the entrance and then five people inside a card store, the police chief said.
“It appears to be very random,” Burbank said. “There was no sense to why he was doing what he was doing.”
“The suspect in this particular circumstance had one thing on his mind, and that was to kill a large number of people,” Burbank said.