Documents released by Salt Lake City police Wednesday re-enforce previous characterizations of Talovic as a socially isolated teen immigrant. They also indicate Talovic, 18, had an interest in guns long before his shooting rampage.

Talovic shared with a co-worker that he liked to hunt and "shoot his shot gun," reports say. Police photographs of the contents of Talovic's car, parked at the mall, include a receipt for three boxes of shotgun shells purchased just four days before the shootings, along with a hunting knife and camouflage Remington baseball cap.

At Horizonte High School, Principal James Anderson and a computer-lab instructor told police Talovic once was found using a school computer to look at guns. According to a police report, the instructor said he restricted computer access by Talovic after the incident.

Anderson also told police about an incident in which Talovic had an argument with another student, the report says.

The detective interviewing Horizonte teachers and counselors - including one staffer who spoke with Talovic in his native Bosnian - noted none were able to identify any friends of Talovic.

"During these interviews, I noticed a prevailing theme," wrote Salt Lake City police Detective Steven Winters. "Talovic was a loner, he struggled with reading and writing the English language, he did not graduate high school, he received poor school grades, he was working at the time of this incident, but his salary possibilities were limited and he seemed to have difficulties socially."

A construction-education teacher told police Talovic, whose family immigrated from Bosnia in 1998, was an acceptable student in his class. But Winters wrote he viewed Talovic's student file and found he was a poor student and "did not enjoy school in general."

Talovic missed a year of school in 2004 and 2005, the report says, and did not attend any other form of education.

Jason Olsen, a spokesman for the Salt Lake City School District, on Wednesday said records show Talovic dropped out of school so he could work after he turned 16. He later returned to Horizonte, Olsen said. Talovic never graduated and was not enrolled at school at the time of his death.

In an interview conducted by another detective, a person who worked with Talovic at a uniform-cleaning and rental agency said Talovic was "shy and quiet." The fellow employee also said hunting was the "only thing that [Talovic] ever talked about," according to that police report.

Police photographs of a Wal-Mart receipt found in Talovic's car show someone purchased the same brand of 12-gauge shells - Federal 7-1/2 shot - as those found at the crime scene.

Salt Lake City police released the photographs and reports Wednesday in response to a records request.

The Police Department in January released a report summarizing its investigation, Talovic's history and the carnage he inflicted at the mall. Some of the documents released Wednesday show how police arrived at conclusions and descriptions in the report. The released photographs show Talovic's path from his car, to the first shots he fired on the parking terrace, to the mall's corridors and shops. Gunfire damage is displayed throughout.

A set of keys sits on the driver's seat of Talovic's otherwise tidy car.

Many reports recount the terror as experienced by those inside and outside the mall. One employee at the gift and card store Cabin Fever, where Talovic shot five of his victims, told police about hearing the gunfire and running toward the shop's backroom.

As he opened the rear door, the employee said, he looked back to see Talovic enter the shop. When the employee exited the room later, he "saw all the victims on the ground and the police entering."

ncarlisle@sltrib.com

A tragedy in summary

On the evening of Feb. 12, 2007, Sulejman Talovic parked his car in the upper west parking lot of Trolley Square mall and armed himself with a 12-gauge shotgun, a .38-caliber pistol and a backpack of ammunition. He then began approaching and shooting mall patrons. Talovic killed five people and wounded four before he was killed in a shoot-out with Salt Lake City police and one off-duty officer from Ogden. Killed that night were Kirsten Hinckley, 15; Vanessa Quinn, 29; Teresa Ellis, 29; Jeffrey Walker, 52; and Brad Frantz, 24.