An Indian kiosk employee at a Utah shopping mall is in critical condition after being stabbed 15 times in what authorities are calling a premeditated, anti-Muslim hate crime. According to witnesses, 48-year-old Peter Michael Larsen approached the employee, identified by friends as Sohail, and began a seemingly casual conversation.
Luna Nunez, who works at a nearby store, told ABC Salt Lake City that Larsen asked Sohail where he was from. When Sohail replied that he was from India, Larsen asked, "Are you Muslim?" "Sohail said yes," Nunez recounted, "and he just began stabbing him."
Imam Shuaib Din of the Utah Islamic Center revealed that Larsen sought a bottle of water from Sohail. When he turned to get him one, the attacker allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed him, reported the Salt Lake Tribune.
"He was stabbing him so vicious. I was scared for his life," Nunez told ABC Salt Lake City. "I thought he was going to die."
The bystanders immediately subdued Larsen and rushed Sohail to hospital. A GoFundMe campaign started by Nunez revealed that Sohail has undergone multiple surgeries and remains in critical condition.
Court documents revealed that Larsen, currently held at Salt Lake County Jail, deliberately targeted the victim as he "intends to kill Muslims". Authorities have charged him with attempted murder and warned that he posed “a substantial danger to the public if released based on his violent actions, … ideologies and pre-planned mass casualty events”.
The attack has been widely condemned as a hate crime. "There's no space for hate," said Sohail's manager, Adnan Mohammed.
