Posted on 03/14/2007 12:17:24 PM PDT by joan
BY LISA ROSETTA AND RUSS RIZZO
MARCH 13, 2007
- It was going to be the happiest day of Sulejman Talovic's life. On the night of Feb. 11, Talovic talked to his girlfriend, Monika, for hours on the phone. " 'Something is going to happen tomorrow that you'll never be able to forgive me about,' " the 17-year-old remembers Talovic saying. "He said it was supposed to be the happiest day of his life and that it could only happen once in a lifetime."
Monika pressed for details. "It involves everyone and everything," he said, except for her - he loved her too much. "I would never in the world want something like that to happen to you."
At 10:44 p.m., Talovic hung up in Salt Lake City, telling Monika to sleep well. It would be the last time she heard the 18-year-old's voice.
The two, both Bosnian refugees, had never met in person. On Feb. 13, around 2:30 p.m., an FBI agent calling numbers on Talovic's cell phone revealed the secret.
Talovic, the agent told Monika, had walked into Trolley Square mall the day before, carrying a shotgun, a .38-caliber pistol and a backpack full of ammunition. He had opened fire on nine people, killing five, before police killed him.
"I fell to the floor. I couldn't feel anything," Monika said. "I couldn't feel anything."
Talovic first called Monika's small Amarillo home on Jan. 28. The teens, both Bosnian refugees who spent the early years of their childhood running from Serbian soldiers, were paired up by their uncles, longtime friends.
Monika's mother remembers the first time Talovic called.
"He's shy, he's talking slowly," she said. She offered to take his phone number. "He says, 'No, no thank you ma'am, I call her back.' "
Later that day, Monika and Talovic spoke for the first time. She says Talovic began to warm up to her and was happy, always cracking jokes. He called her "Mimi." She called him "Teddy Bear."
By Feb. 11, the two had burned through nearly 1,700 cell phone minutes - more than 28 hours.
"It was way easier to talk to him than just some person," Monika said. "I don't understand why, but it was easier to talk to him than my Mom sometimes."
Both had dropped out of school. Monica is now being home schooled and expects to receive her diploma in November.
Talovic's favorite color, Monika discovered, was turquoise; his favorite food, macaroni and cheese. He loved the outdoors and fishing with his father. He was listening to Korn.
And then there were those things he didn't talk about: Guns. Politics. Religion. What he did at night after work.
Early in their conversations, Monika said, Talovic discussed death. He stressed the importance of living each day to its fullest. At the time, she didn't assign any meaning to it.
Talovic, police later discovered, had already legally purchased a 12-gauge shotgun in November at an area sporting goods store.
The teens daydreamed aloud about getting married. Talovic wanted to honeymoon in Tampa, Fla., Monika said; to someday settle down in Kentucky where he has relatives. Maybe have a son of his own. He hoped to someday buy a cabin in Bosnia, a place where he and his new wife could vacation.
They had shared their memories of Bosnia, Monika alone in her bedroom in Amarillo - in a remodeled garage - and Talovic alone in his basement bedroom in Salt Lake City.
Talovic and Monika never saw photos of each other. But as they grew closer, their parents were delighted. Suljo and Sabira Talovic looked forward to their son becoming a husband and father. Suljo Talovic offered to buy Talovic a plane ticket, or drive him to Texas himself, so he could meet Monika in person.
Talovic told them, "I want to get married soon, I will tell you when we need to get started with the wedding," Suljo Talovic remembers. The father said he responded that when they got married, he would buy them a $1,000 gift, "something gold."
"I was hoping for a wedding, not this," he said.
Obviously this was something spectacular and glorious to him - something he fantasized about if he the above about what was going to happen.
Why ain't I crying?
The teens daydreamed aloud about getting married. Talovic wanted to honeymoon in Tampa, Fla., Monika said; to someday settle down in Kentucky where he has relatives.
Likely includes more Srebrenica men the Serbs allegedly genocided but who living alive and well almost a dozen years later in the U.S.
Oh that is so sweet. Now tell us about the dreams of those this a-hole killed...
-how many more of these sleepers are there out there waiting...I should be grateful that they don't all go out at once around the country...
We allowed this animal into our country. Offered him freedom and a chance to live any kind of life he wanted and this is how he pays us back.
Still waiting for the national media to cover this from the aspect of Muslim terrorism...still waiting, still waiting...
I do believe that muslim terroists are fully aware that the worst possible thing that could happen for them would be to have another 911 type attack.
Still waiting for the national media to cover this from the aspect of Muslim terrorism...you'll have a long wait for this Scripps Howard Rag to ever identify enemies of the US...I do hope all the MSM gets their just rewards!
It's clear to me that this young man was part of the global Jihad. I know this only because of the coverage on the internet and certainly not from the traditional media modes. What about the mosques in Salt Lake city? Is there one that caters solely to the Bosnians? What lame reporters. They tell me nothing that I care about except that this was totally pre-meditated and that the girlfriend has a martyr for a dead boyfriend. Don't trust these people...not for a minute. We were on the wrong side of that war.
When bj was getting all lewinskied up and we went into this mess, I asked what in the hell are we doing defending mooselimb terrrorists? There was no "ethnic cleansing", no mass graves, just the bent one and his damn DNA splattered in the sink.
As this country keeps importing more and more of these types, including people from hostile nations, and provides illegal aliens with special perks, there will be more of these kinds of killings.
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