ICNA CSJ Demands Accountability After Religiously-Motivated Stabbing of Muslim Man in Utah
July 15, 2026 ICNA CSJ is heartbroken and enraged by the stabbing of a Muslim man at a mall in West Valley City, Utah. Court records show that 48-year-old Peter Michael Larsen admitted he had “targeted the victim with intent to kill him because of his religion.
According to a court affidavit, the victim, a mall kiosk worker, was asked his name, his religion, and for a bottle of water. As he turned to get it, the suspect allegedly stabbed him 15 times. He remains hospitalized after multiple surgeries. Investigators warned he posed a substantial danger to the public, citing his violent ideologies.
Anti-Muslim sentiment in the US has intensified since 9/11 and has been fueled further by anti-immigration rhetoric, white supremacism, and tension since the 2016 election cycle. The genocide in Gaza has further intensified the rift.
A six-year-old Palestinian American boy was fatally stabbed in Illinois in 2023. A gunman killed five people at a mosque in San Diego earlier this year. Public commentary on the accidental drowning of a 7 year old Muslim boy got so out of hand that Muslim groups had to step in. Each incident has followed months of rhetoric painting Muslims as threats rather than neighbors- and every time, after Muslim interests groups have spoken out, they are ignored, and the cycle of violence against Muslims in America continues.
ICNA Council for Social Justice Calls On:
- Law enforcement and prosecutors to pursue the fullest hate crime charges available.
- Elected officials to condemn this attack and reckon with the rhetoric normalizing anti-Muslim hostility.
- Media outlets to cover this with the urgency it demands, and amplify Muslim voices who speak about how patterns of rhetoric harm their community.
We pray for the victim of this terrible incident, and ask that God grant him a complete recovery, and make his pain a means of purification for him. We ask that God protects Muslims everywhere, from men trying to earn a living, to children who attend school. May God make these incidents a catalyst for change.