SALT LAKE CITY — The man accused of stabbing a mall employee after allegedly targeting the victim because of their religion previously served time in prison for threatening firefighters and police officers with a shotgun.
Peter Michael Larsen, 48, was taken into custody Monday at the Valley Fair Mall in West Valley City after police said he stabbed kiosk employee Syed Sohail Uddin multiple times and told police he did so because the victim was Muslim.
Larsen was taken into custody and faces charges of Attempted Murder and carrying a prohibited weapon.
In July 2022, police were called to Larsen's Salt Lake City home after he set his yard on fire and then threatened to shoot firefighters who had been called to the scene, as well as anyone else who stepped foot on his property.
Raw video below shows shots fired during 2022 incident involving Peter Larsen:
When police arrived at Larsen's home, he emerged from the home with a shotgun, which led to officers warning him to drop the weapon. When Larsen refused, two officers fired their own weapons, forcing him back into the house.
As the fire Larsen set in his yard continued to grow, police went inside the home and removed Larsen without incident. Inside the home, officers found over 100 unspent ammunition rounds scattered across the floor of the house.
Following the 2022 incident, Larsen pleaded guilty to one count of assault on a police officer and another count of arson and was sentenced to 1-15 years in prison. The Utah Department of Corrections said Larsen was released from prison on January 21, 2025, and is still on parole. It isn't clear what conditions were placed on him following his release.
“Did he go to anger management?" wondered Clayton Simms, a local criminal defense attorney who is not connected to the case. "Did he go to substance abuse treatment during his stint in prison? That may have encouraged the board to think that he's been rehabilitated and that he could be released.”
Documents from the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole showed that in 2024, Larsen was granted an earlier parole date after completing his high school diploma.
"We really don't know who is going to be successful and who's not going to be successful," Simms added. "When you're released early, the Board of Pardons and the prison still has control over you."
The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office has not yet filed formal charges in Monday's stabbing.
"We are still awaiting reports, but clearly it is something that we will be screening," said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. "We don't want to say anything else until we receive the results of the investigation."
