This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The shooting rampage at Trolley Square was not Sulejman Talovic's first act of violence.
At age 12, Talovic was before a juvenile court judge for allegedly holding a knife over the head of a girl while stating, "I'll kill you," according to a source who is familiar with the case.
Two years earlier, Talovic had been referred to court for throwing rocks at a little girl.
About the same time, he threatened his family's landlord with a knife.
The first girl was not struck by the stones. And the mother of the second girl snatched her up just as Talovic took a swipe with the blade, according to the source, who has seen court documents relating to the case.
FBI spokesman Patrick Kiernan said investigators are aware of Talovic's juvenile criminal history and are considering what role it might have played in the Trolley Square shootings.
They are problems Talovic appeared to have in the first years of his life in Utah, where his family took refuge from war-ravaged Bosnia. Those few people who knew Talovic well said his later years were peaceful and more promising, though he struggled to find his place in society.
Talovic's relatives have referred to him as "a very nice person" who had never hurt anyone.
"Everything about him was nice. Everybody said so," said his father, Suljo Talovic.
Even Musto Redzovic, the family's first landlord in Salt Lake City, whom Talovic pulled a knife on in 1998 or 1999, had nothing bad to say about the troubled young man.
"He was just a child," said Redzovic, who brushed the incident off and did not report it to police.
Redzovic said he believes Talovic, who would have been 9 or 10 when he pulled the knife on him, did not recognize him and may have been simply trying to protect his family's property, a rundown apartment on Edmonds Place (642 West).
Still, Redzovic described Talovic as "a really bored kid" who looked unhappy.
"I used to feel bad for him," said Redzovic, who believes the behavior was a direct result of the war in Bosnia. "That child must have seen some troubling things in Bosnia."
The rock-throwing incident occurred on Sept. 23, 1999. During a juvenile court trial, the allegations were found to be true, although Talovic denied them.
David Geary, now an assistant state attorney general, was Talovic's defense attorney, but on Thursday said he had only a vague recollection of the case.
He guessed that the judge would have ordered counseling and education courses for the boy. Juvenile judges usually do not find it appropriate to hand down harsh sentences to 10-year-olds, Geary noted.
Juvenile detention records show Talovic was never in custody, said Carol Sisco, spokeswoman for the Utah Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS).
Geary said it was likely the judge took into consideration that the boy and his family were refugees from war-torn Bosnia.
"It's a struggle to find the right interventions," Geary said. "But the judges worked hard to tailor their remedies to individual situations. They did account for the background of the child and the situation they came from."
The knife brandishing episode involving the girl occurred on April 24, 2001, and was eventually dismissed because the victim and her mother could not be located.
Talovic was also referred to court for stealing fireworks from a Smith's grocery store on June 22, 2001.
On July 9, 2001, Talovic admitted the shoplifting crime, and it was the last time he appeared in juvenile court, according to the source, quoting court records.
Court officials said they have been unable to find any juvenile court history on Talovic. The source said the records were expunged in October, when Talovic turned 18.
Sisco said DCFS was contacted twice about the family with allegations of possible abuse - but not abuse perpetrated by Talovic.
The first contact with DCFS was made in 2002 and Talovic was mentioned, said Sisco. The second contact was in 2005, but the boy was not mentioned, she said.
"We had some contact," said Sisco. "In both instances, there was just no evidence of . . . abuse or neglect." She declined to comment further.
Despite the horror of Monday's shooting and Talovic's brushes with the Utah law in his younger years, a co-worker and a teacher remembered him fondly yet with some sadness.
Virginia Lee, Talovic's eighth-grade math teacher at Hillside Intermediate School, said he associated with several other Bosnian immigrants in the English as a Second Language class she taught, but he did not seem to make any close friends. He was mostly quiet and kept to himself, she said.
"He tried to be their friends and I don't know the extent to which they reciprocated," Lee said. "He didn't know how to be a friend. He did try to belong."
As soon as Talovic was 17, he went to work for a Salt Lake County-based construction company that his father worked for. There, he became friends with Spencer Critchett, who was two years older.
During the eight months the two worked together, Critchett said he observed Talovic as a bright, hard worker who was generous toward his co-workers.
"I can recall days at lunch when someone wouldn't have food and Sulejman would go without lunch so that person could eat. This young man would give you the shirt off his back," Critchett said.
Talovic excelled in company-based training, including a 20-hour class in lead-paint removal. Talovic passed the course "with flying colors," said Critchett.
Critchett said Talovic's earlier years in Utah were fraught with difficulty because he was Muslim and he spoke broken English.
"Naturally, that made him an outcast. He was often picked on at school due to the fact that he was different. It is very difficult to excel in an environment where you are treated as a loner." The constant harassment, Critchett said, made Talovic quick to be defensive.
Critchett said he has spent several sleepless nights searching for an answer to why Talovic killed five people and wounded four more. There is no way to know what happened to his friend, whom he last spoke with on Talovic's 18th birthday last fall, but he believes the young man's difficulties in his first years in the United States contributed to Monday's violence.
"Would things have turned out differently if his peers and fellow classmates had treated him with respect? I believe so."
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* PAMELA MANSON, MICHAEL N. WESTLEY, STEVE GEHRKE, ELIZABETH NEFF AND RUSS RIZZO contributed to the story.