Valley Fair Mall employee stabbed by man allegedly targeting Muslims

WEST VALLEY CITY — A 48-year-old man arrested for allegedly stabbing another man multiple times at Valley Fair Mall on Monday claims he targeted the victim because of his faith, according to police.

Peter Michael Larsen was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of attempted murder and being a restricted person in possession of a weapon.

According to a police booking affidavit, Larsen "stated he had targeted the victim with intent to kill him because of his religion (Muslim)."

The attack happened about 2:30 p.m. Monday at Valley Fair Mall, 3601 S. 2700 West. The victim, a man, was working at a kiosk at the mall, according to West Valley police.

Family members identified the victim by his first name, Sohail.

"I know he doesn't have insurance," said Luna Nunez, who worked with Sohail at Magma Diamonds in the mall. "He's the only man that is working in his family. He has two babies and a wife, and they are not working right now."

Friends have organized a GoFundMe* to support the family as Sohail is hospitalized.

"He's amazing. He's such a wonderful man. He is always just super happy and just super loving and just a good man in general," Nunez told KSL. "What happened, he didn't deserve it."

The stabbing

Larsen approached the man and began talking to him before pulling out a knife and repeatedly stabbing him, police stated. The victim was taken to a local hospital in critical condition. Larsen was also taken to a local hospital to be checked out "due to being punched in the head from bystanders trying to get the knife out of his hand," the affidavit states.

When questioned by detectives, Larsen stated that "he believes he is a catalyst and he intends to kill Muslims. (Larsen) constitutes a substantial danger to the public if released based on his violent actions today, ideologies and pre-planned mass casualty events," police wrote in their affidavit.

"(The victim) was a member of our congregation, and if the initial reports that we hear are correct, then this was a hate crime which affects the whole entire Muslim community in the valley. This just proves beyond the shadow of doubt that Islamophobia is on the rise," Iman Shuaib Din, from the Utah Islamic Center, said Tuesday in a prepared statement.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., also on 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. 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. We pray for the victim's complete and speedy recovery and call on all Americans to stand together against anti-Muslim bigotry and every form of hatred," executive director Nihad Awad said in a prepared statement.

When asked if he believes the incident meets the criteria for a hate crime according to Utah law, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said Tuesday that he will wait for the case to be formally submitted to his office.

"We are still awaiting reports, but clearly it is something that we will be screening. We don't want to say anything else until we receive the results of the investigation," he said.

Suspect's criminal history

In 2022, Larsen was shot by Salt Lake City police officers because he pointed a shotgun at officers and threatened to shoot firefighters who had responded to a fire at his Salt Lake City residence. He survived and was convicted of assault on a police officer, a second-degree felony, and sentenced to one to 15 years at the Utah State Prison.

Larsen was also convicted in a second, separate case in 2022 of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, for pulling a gun on a man working security at a South Salt Lake gentleman's club after Larsen was kicked out, according to court records.

Larsen was last paroled from the prison in January of 2025, according to the Board of Pardon's website.

During his first parole hearing in 2023, a soft-spoken Larsen claimed he had relapsed on alcohol after seven years of sobriety and called the events of the day he was shot by police "hazy" in his memory.

"I made a terrible decision to relapse," he said in a recording of the hearing. "I was really low, and I didn't think clearly."

For both incidents in 2022, Larsen told the board he was "highly inebriated." The board noted that prior to the 2022 incidents, Larsen had a minimal criminal history.

When asked about his mental health, Larsen told the board that he was 14 months sober at the time of the hearing, and was "a lot cleaner and clearer."

However, after being released from prison, Larsen was re-arrested for an incident with his ex-wife and her new boyfriend over an issue with his son who he shared with his ex. During a parole violation hearing in 2024, Larsen claimed he has committed a "critical thinking error." He again stated his mental health was good, according to a recording of the hearing, and that he was anxious to go to a halfway house "to continue progressing and create a stable foundation for me."

Contributing: Daniel Woodruff, Devin Oldroyd

*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

Related topics