A man was arrested in Utah after allegedly stabbing a Muslim employee at a mall multiple times and telling investigators he targeted the victim because of his religion, according to court records. 

Peter Michael Larsen, 48, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder and prohibited dangerous weapon conduct following the attack on July 13 at the Valley Fair Mall in West Valley City, Utah, court and online jail records show. West Valley City is a suburb of Salt Lake City.

The West Valley City Police Department said the incident occurred shortly before 3 p.m. local time, when Larsen approached a man working at a kiosk at the mall.

“After a brief interaction, the suspect pulled out a knife and began stabbing him multiple times,” police said in a statement on X. “A few bystanders interfered, and were able to separate the suspect from the victim and subdue the suspect until police arrived.”

The victim, who was not identified by authorities, sustained multiple stab wounds and was taken to a hospital in critical condition, according to police and court records.

Larsen told investigators that he had “targeted the victim with intent to kill him because of his religion (Muslim),” police said in an affidavit obtained by USA TODAY. The affidavit also states Larsen said he believes he is “a catalyst” and “intends to kill Muslims.”

The incident remains under investigation, and police said they were looking into any possible relationship between the suspect and victim. USA TODAY reached out to the West Valley City Police Department for comment.

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Police: Suspect poses a ‘substantial danger to the public’

The suspect approached the Muslim man, asked for his name, asked about his religion, and indicated he wanted a bottle of water, The Salt Lake Tribune reported, citing comments from Imam Shuaib Din, who leads the Utah Islamic Center and had been in contact with the victim’s family.

As the victim turned to get the water, the attacker began stabbing him, Din told the newspaper. Police said in the affidavit that they received multiple 911 calls at around 2:30 p.m. local time reporting two men “involved in a physical altercation where one male was stabbing the other.”

When officers arrived at the scene, they observed bystanders pinning the suspect to the ground and “had already removed the knife from his hand,” according to the affidavit. Police said the victim was “bleeding profusely” and was then transported to the hospital.

The victim was identified by friends as Syed Sohail Uddin, local television station FOX 13 and The New York Times reported. A GoFundMe fundraiser organized on his behalf said he was stabbed 15 times and required multiple surgeries. 

Larsen was also transported to the hospital “due to being punched in the head from bystanders trying to get the knife out of his hand,” according to the affidavit. He was later medically cleared and taken to the police station for an interview.

Police said in the affidavit that Larsen posed “a substantial danger to the public if released based on his violent actions today, ideologies and pre-planned mass casualty events.”

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Advocates condemn stabbing attack at Utah mall

Muslim advocacy groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), condemned the attack.

“This horrific attack is yet another reminder that anti-Muslim rhetoric has real-world consequences. When Muslims are routinely demonized, portrayed as threats, or treated as less deserving of equal rights and dignity, some twisted individuals inevitably act on that hatred,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement on July 14.

Civil rights advocates have noted a rise in Islamophobia in the United States over the last two-plus decades following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, ⁠and ​more recently because of immigration policies and the fallout of the Israel-Hamas war, according to Reuters.

CAIR, which is the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, reported last year that it received a record number of complaints of discrimination and Islamophobic attacks amid the war.

The organization received more than 8,650 complaints in 2024, the highest number since CAIR began publishing its annual civil rights report in 1996, according to the report released in March 2025. Complaints rose more than 7%, breaking the previous record set in 2023.

The Utah attack follows several high-profile incidents targeting Muslims in recent years, including the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy in Illinois in 2023 and a deadly shooting at a San Diego mosque earlier this year.

Contributing: N’dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY; Reuters

A Utah man told police he repeatedly stabbed a Muslim man because of the man’s faith and intended to kill him, according to court records filed Monday.

The Muslim man survived the attack Monday afternoon at a mall southeast of Salt Lake City. But he’s expected to face a long recovery after suffering more than 15 stab wounds, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help with medical expenses.

Bystanders were able to get the knife out of the suspect’s hand before police arrived at the scene at Valley Fair Mall, court records show.

The suspect, Peter Michael Larsen, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and carrying a prohibited dangerous weapon. He told police he targeted the employee over his religious beliefs, according to the court records, which didn’t list an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

The Associated Press was unable to locate any of Larsen’s immediate family in public records.

The Valley Fair Mall did not immediately respond to email and voicemail requests for comment.

Larsen, 48, was on parole for a previous violent felony, court records show. He is being held without bail.

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, whose office is determining whether to pursue charges, declined to comment.

“We don’t want to say anything else until we receive the results of the investigation,” Gill said in a statement.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group, called on elected officials to reject anti-Muslim rhetoric.

“Our nation’s political and community leaders have a moral responsibility to reject anti-Muslim hate in all its forms before more innocent people are harmed,” Nihad Awad, the organization’s national executive director, said in a statement.

In May, two teenagers killed three people and then themselves at an Islamic Center in San Diego in an attack that has left the community reeling. The AP obtained writings of both teenagers, including hateful rhetoric toward Jewish people, Muslims and Islam, as well as the LGBTQ+ community, Black people, women, and both the political left and right.

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — There have been hundreds of human-caused wildfires this year in Utah, but the legal outcomes are hard to track.

At least two people have been charged recently for starting fires: one for the Memory Grove Fire in Salt Lake and one for the Mountain Road Fire in Ogden.

This year alone, 327 wildfires have been started by people in Utah — an act that should carry consequences, according to some.

“Certainly, if it’s intentional, it’s against the law,” resident David Mastroianni said. “If it’s not intentional, then they weren’t being as careful as they should be with something they should be careful with.”

But, before anyone gets to that point, there’s a lot of work that goes into figuring out what started the fire, let alone who.

“The fire investigator will show up on scene and will look at the scene, collect evidence, and then turn it over to the proper authorities,” said Kelly Wickens with Forestry, Fire, and State Lands.

Tracking which fires end with criminal charges or civil suits is difficult.

Wickens said that once the fire is out and the investigator turns the evidence over, their work is done, and it’s up to the proper authorities to press charges.

“Arson does require — this is what makes it difficult — is that you have to establish someone intentionally started a fire,” said former prosecutor Nathan Evershed.

Evershed said there are more charges than just arson, such as reckless burning.

“So, if it’s not intentional and it’s more accidental, it can still be viewed as being reckless,” Evershed said.

That could mean if a firework accidentally causes a fire.

Evershed said that there’s also a difference between causing a structure fire and a grass fire. A structure fire could result in aggravated arson charges.

But what happens if a fire is completely accidental?

“It’s more difficult to find a criminal sanction on that … still could be a civil sanction on that, where somebody would have to pay restitution,” Evershed said.

So, while there’s no concrete number for how many human-caused fires have led to charges or civil suits, there are a lot of avenues if someone does get caught.

Evershed said you can even be charged if you just abandon a campfire that causes a fire.

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