A peaceful demonstration on Sunday raising awareness for Israeli hostages took a harrowing turn after a man allegedly used Molotov cocktails to set marchers ablaze.
Police in Boulder, Colorado have arrested Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, in connection with the attack. The FBI called the attack a "targeted act of violence” and is investigating it as an act of terrorism.
The man allegedly shouted “Free Palestine!” as he used a “makeshift flame thrower” and threw an “incendiary device” into the crowd, the FBI said. Some 16 unused Molotov cocktails were found at the scene.
Twelve people were injured in the attack, with one in critical condition. The victims have not been publicly identified.
Here’s everything we know about the attack.
Who is Mohamed Soliman?
Police arrested Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, on Sunday.
He has now been charged with a federal hate crime, one count of attempted murder, one count of first-degree assault, one count of causing serious injury to an at-risk adult or someone over 70, and one count of using explosives or incendiary devices. Early reports suggested he was also charged with two counts of first-degree murder, though there have been no deaths reported.
The FBI said the attack is also being investigated as an act of terrorism. Soliman reportedly told police that he had specifically targeted what he referred to as a “Zionist group” and had been planning the attack for a year. He also said he would do it again.
Soliman is a native of Egypt. He entered the country in August 2022 on a visa issued during the administration of former President Joe Biden, on a non-immigrant visa that allowed him to stay until February 2023, Department of Homeland Security sources told Fox News.
Those sources told Fox that Soliman was granted work authorization in March 2023, which allowed him to stay until March 2025.
According to CBS News, Soliman began working as an Uber food delivery driver in the spring of 2023 and began driving passengers about nine months ago. A company spokesperson said his employment has now been terminated.
He appeared in court for the first time on Monday afternoon charged with a federal hate crime and 16 counts of attempted murder.
What happened in Boulder?
Just after 2 p.m. on Sunday, Boulder Police announced they were responding to a report that a man with a weapon was setting people on fire.
At the time of the attack, Run for Their Lives, a group of demonstrators raising awareness for the Israeli hostages that remain in Gaza, were marching on Pearl Street, as they do every Sunday, organizations have said.
Soliman allegedly used a “makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device” into the crowd as he yelled “Free Palestine!”, the FBI said.
Ed Victor, one of about 30 people marching, told CBS News that the group was peacefully walking down Pearl Street when the attack occurred.
"... all of a sudden, I felt the heat. It was a Molotov cocktail equivalent, a gas bomb in a glass jar, thrown,” Victor told the outlet.
Another marcher “saw it, a big flame as high as a tree, and all I saw was someone on fire,” he said.
Two sources told CBS News that witnesses told investigators the suspect also yelled “End Zionist!” in the attack.
How many victims were injured?
Authorities have confirmed the identities of 12 people, aged between 52 and 88 who were injured in the attack. Earlier, authorities said there were six injured people.
The oldest victim is a Holocaust survivor and a “very loving person”, Rabbi Israel Wilhelm, the Chabad director at the University of Colorado Boulder, told CBS News.
Some were suffering from wounds that were consistent with burns, Redfearn said. Their injuries range from minor to critical, according to the FBI.
UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora told 9News they had received two patients in connection with the attack.
A witness told FOX31 that each victim they saw “ had skin basically melted or hanging ... from their legs.”
What comes next in the investigation?
Local, state, and federal law enforcement are investigating the planning behind Sunday’s attack, as well as Soliman’s alleged motives.
Soliman was reportedly cooperative after being arrested on Sunday, and alerted the FBI to an iPhone hidden in his Colorado Springs home with messages to his family, as well as a journal, per court documents.
Agents have reportedly searched the property.
The Egyptian national allegedly told investigators about what motivated the attack, with Soliman saying he “hated this group and needed to stop them from taking over ‘our land,’ which he explained to be Palestine,” according to court documents.
Officials said that the 45-year-old attempted to purchase a gun prior to the fire attack, only to be denied because he is not a U.S. citizen.
The plot against the activists was not on police’s radar ahead of Sunday, but the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said Monday it had received three non-criminal calls to Soliman’s home since December 2022, including one involving “juvenile contact.” The Egyptian had also previously been involved in four traffic stops.
Soliman is due next in court at 3:30pm MT on Thursday, where he will face the official filing of state charges.
He is currently in jail in Boulder County on $10 million bond.
What has been said about the Boulder terror attack?
Temple Emmanuel Senior Rabbi Joseph Black said the Jewish community was shocked.
“I think we're feeling a multitude of emotions – fear, anger, despair,” he told Denver7, adding that that Temle Emmanuel has taken “very intense security protocols” to keep the congregation safe.
“This will not stop us, in any way, shape or form,” he said.
Nonprofit organizations and federal officials have condemned the attack.
“My thoughts go out to the people who have been injured and impacted by this heinous act of terror. Hate-filled acts of any kind are unacceptable. While details emerge, the state works with local and federal law enforcement to support this investigation,” Jared Polis, Colorado’s Democratic governor, wrote in a statement.
Colorado Democratic Rep. Joe Negus, who represents Boulder, said he’s “praying hard” for the victims. “We are closely monitoring, and are in contact with local law enforcement regarding the horrific attack on Pearl Street Mall. Praying hard for the victims,” he wrote on X.
President Trump blamed Biden administration “open border” policies for the attack, though Soliman entered the U.S. legally on a travel visa.
“[Soliman] came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. “He must go out under ‘TRUMP’ Policy. Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law.”
The Boulder Jewish Community issued a joint statement in the wake of the incident. "We are saddened and heartbroken to learn that an incendiary device was thrown at walkers at the Run for Their Lives walk on Pearl Street as they were raising awareness for the hostages still held in Gaza. We don't have all the details of what is unfolding, and we promise to keep our community informed,” the statement read.
The statement continued: “When events like this enter our own community, we are shaken. Our hope is that we come together for one another. Strength to you all.”
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The Anti-Defamation League said it was aware of the reports of the attack at Boulder Run for Their Lives event, which the nonprofit described as “a weekly meeting of Jewish community members to run/walk in support of the hostages kidnapped on 10/7.”
Jim Berk, the CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, denounced Sunday’s attack and mentioned the recent killing of the couple working at Israel’s embassy in Washington D.C.
“This marks the second violent assault on Jewish and pro-Israel civilians in the U.S. in less than two weeks—a chilling escalation that cannot be dismissed as coincidence. On May 21, two Israeli Embassy staffers were gunned down in cold blood in Washington, D.C., and now the extremist violence has come to Boulder, CO,” said Simon Wiesenthal Center CEO Jim Berk.
“Both attacks are the direct result of months of anti-Israel propaganda, moral equivocation, and silence in the face of raging antisemitism. The nonstop demonization of Israel and Zionism on our campuses, in our streets, and across digital platforms has created a climate where hate flourishes, and physical attacks—even murder—of Jews is inevitable.”
