Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Shooting in Salt Lake

I suppose some of you have heard of the shootings that took place at the Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City yesterday. There is some coverage here on the front page of the Deseret News. What has caught my eye is the name of the perpetrator, Solejman Talovic, an 18 year old Bosnian refugee. Both the name and the country of origin are interesting. Solejman seems to be an alternate spelling of Sulejman, a name that googling associates with the Muslim communities in Bosnia, Albania, and Kosovo; it seems to be the arabic version of Soloman. Now, I am not saying there is a Muslim connection in this case, it is far too early and the details are still very sketchy, Solejman may be just another teenager in a trench coat. But I will be keeping an eye out for developments.

7 comments:

Rick Ballard said...

"We will likely know for sure within the next few days."

I doubt it. If we do see it reported that he was hollering allah hu akbar as he was shooting it would be remarkable.

d.schultz said...

I highly doubt this was a Islamic attack. Were the Columbine kids Muslim? Just because he has a Muslim name does not make him and extremist. Perhaps he was a misguided teenager like many teens in this counrty

Unknown said...

I heard he was extremely calm throughout the attack. No chanting, no calls to God...he just killed a bunch of people. That same day some guy opened fire in a board meeting of some kind in Philadelphia and killed 3 people before he shot himself. Strange.

buddy larsen said...

I bet the kid has been on the net hate sites, whether jihadi or not.

Unknown said...

Solejman Talovic is not Albanian or Kosovar name, most likely a name with slavic origin.

Morgan said...

I agree with Chuck's caution, and D. Schulz's interpretation seems likely to me. A sizeable portion of the population of St. Louis (where I live) is Bosnian Muslim. You find all the good and bad things always associated with immigrants. A large number of hard-working entrepreneurs, strong families - and also many people having a difficult time adapting to a new country and relatively high crime rates (though in this city, they might still be below average).

There are also supposedly large numbers of people with psychological problems stemming from the same conditions that drove them out of Bosnia in the first place. I haven't seen it firsthand.

So if I were wagering, I'd say it's a seriously messed up young man - more like Columbine than LAX.

Of course, it wouldn't be a fair wager if I actually knew.

chuck said...

So if I were wagering, I'd say it's a seriously messed up young man - more like Columbine than LAX.

A former teacher described Solejman as a quiet loner. It sounds like the same description I've heard of other sudden mass shooters. So I'm leaning towards the generic rather than the Jihadic.