Dramatic Video From Trolley Square Mall Shooting

The key isn't necessarily the video, but the audio. Some folks think that they've been able to discern what they believe to be Sulejman Talovic shouting Allahu Akbar, around 1:30 into the clip. I'm not so sure.

Charles Johnson, who has a much better ear than I, says definitively that the comment wasn't said. I am sure that someone who can clean up the sound and take into account the accoustics of the mall might be able to get a better idea of what was said, but the FBI have thus far not discerned Talovic's motive in the shooting. They say that there wasn't a political component.

Still, there are serious questions to be asked about Talovic's background. He apparently had several run ins with the police: at age 10 he attempted stoning a girl and at age 12 he engaged in menacing with a knife. It was not a huge leap to guns. And his parents were where with all the problems their son was getting into? Did they not notice the downward spiral? There is some responsibility for them as the kid was a minor when those earlier incidents occurred.

This kid was a ticking time bomb and it was only a matter of time before he escalated. Now, we've got five dead people and a bunch others recovering from their injuries because he shot up a mall.

Still, this doesn't exactly give motive. It just suggests a very disturbing pattern and trend. Regardless of whether religion played a role in the murders or not, the media should not have been minimizing the component given that Muslims the world over have taken to violence claiming jihad compelled them do it - and has happened inside the US on several occasions though the media again minimizes the role of religion in those crimes despite the clear links (admissions by the accused for example). It remains to be seen whether there is any evidence to support what can only be described as one theory of why Talovic went on the spree killing at the mall.