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Utah mall shooter's family fled from war in homeland

By TIMES WIRES
Published February 15, 2007

SALT LAKE CITY - The Bosnian teen who killed five shoppers at a Salt Lake City mall fled the war in his homeland of Bosnia-Herzegovina at age 10, neighbors and friends said Wednesday.

Sulejman Talovic, the 18-year-old immigrant who was shot to death by police after Monday's rampage, was 4 when he and his mother fled their village of Talovici on foot after Serbian forces overran it in 1993, people close to the family told the Associated Press.

Armed with a .38-caliber pistol, a shotgun and a backpack full of ammunition, Talovic shot nine people, five fatally, at the Trolley Square shopping center before he was stopped by police.

Talovic lived as a refugee in Bosnia from 1993 to 1998, when his family moved to the United States. During that period, he spent time in Srebrenica, the northeastern enclave where up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered in 1995 by Serb forces loyal to former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic. It was the worst massacre of civilians since World War II.

Talovic left Srebrenica two years before the massacre, but acquaintances said it left an indelible mark on the quiet boy they knew.

"That's why I'm convinced the war did this in Utah," said Murat Avdic, a family friend. "There cannot be any other reason."

Talovic worked for two months as a general laborer at Aramark Uniform Services, an industrial launderer and uniform-rental company, manager Trent Thorn said. He appeared for his regular shift on the day of the shooting, he said.

"He just stayed to himself. He just worked." Thorn said.

Also Wednesday, officials in Utah said that there is no evidence Talovic was motivated by religious extremism or an act of terrorism.

"It's just unexplainable. He was just walking around and shooting everybody he saw," said FBI Agent Patrick Kiernan

Talovic's parents do not speak English and did not answer their door Wednesday. However, the teen's aunt, Ajka Omerovic, said the boy's mother is distraught

"We are Muslims, but we are not terrorists," Omerovic said.

Less than 48 hours after the shootings, police tape was removed from the parking lot as the mall reopened.

Outside, candles and flowers were left as memorials to those killed: Jeffrey Walker, 52, Vanessa Quinn, 29, Kirsten Hinkley, 15, Teresa Ellis, 29, and Brad Frantz, 24.

Four people who were wounded remained hospitalized Wednesday, two in critical condition, two in serious.

[Last modified February 15, 2007, 01:37:13]