A man was arrested in Utah for stabbing a Muslim multiple times and stating that he targeted the victim because of the victim’s religion, the police reported yesterday, Tuesday, police said in court documents.

According to police, the suspect told them that “he intends to kill Muslims” and poses “a significant danger to the public if released, due to his violent actions… his ideologies, and mass-casualty incidents he has planned.”

The incident occurred the day before yesterday, Monday, inside the Valley Fair Mall in West Valley City, Utah. The victim, a man, suffered “multiple stab wounds all over his body and was bleeding profusely,” according to police.

Authorities said the suspect was pinned to the ground by bystanders before police arrived on the scene.

The suspect, 48-year-old Peter Michael Larsen, is in custody and is being investigated for attempted murder and the use of a prohibited dangerous weapon. The victim was a Muslim man who worked at a newsstand.

The suspect said that “he targeted the victim with the intent to kill him because of the victim’s religion (Muslim),” according to police.

The suspect approached the Muslim man, asked him his name, asked him about his religion, and said he wanted a bottle of water, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, which cites comments by Imam Suwaib Din, head of the Utah Islamic Center, who has been in contact with the victim’s family.

When the victim turned his back to get the water, the assailant began stabbing him, according to Dean.

The victim is in critical condition. A friend of his set up a page for him on the GoFundMe fundraising platform, which states that the Muslim man was stabbed 15 times and needs surgery. The assailant is also hospitalized due to injuries he sustained when he was pinned to the ground by bystanders.

Muslim rights organizations, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, have condemned the incident. American human rights advocates have pointed to a rise in Islamophobia over the past two decades, following the attacks of September 11, 2001, and more recently due to anti-immigration policies, white supremacist ideology, and the impact of Israel’s war in Gaza.

Deadly violent attacks in recent years include the 2023 stabbing of a 6-year-old Muslim boy in Illinois, whose killer was sentenced to 53 years in prison and died in prison, and the shootings, in 2026 at a mosque in San Diego that claimed the lives of five people, including the two teenage perpetrators.

Source: Protothema.gr