Fifteen people were injured at an outdoor mall in Boulder, Colo., by a man police say attacked demonstrators with makeshift incendiary devices and a flamethrower while they were calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
The suspect, identified by the FBI as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was arrested at the scene on Sunday and has been charged with 118 state-level criminal charges and a federal hate crime. Authorities are investigating the Pearl Street Mall attack as an act of terrorism. The Department of Justice decried it as a “needless act of violence, which follows recent attacks against Jewish Americans.”
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President Donald Trump pledged in a Monday post on his Truth Social platform to prosecute the perpetrator “to the fullest extent of the Law.”
“Yesterday's horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the United States of America," Trump wrote.
Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Denver field office, Mark Michalek, said in a press conference on Sunday evening: “Attacks like this are becoming too common across the country, this is an example of how perpetrators of violence continue to threaten communities.”
In a statement, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said that the attack “appears to be a hate crime given the group that was targeted” and that the group was conducting one of its weekly meets.
Who is the suspected attacker?
Soliman, who has recently been living in Colorado Springs, is an Egyptian national who arrived in the U.S. on a non-immigrant B-2 visa in August 2022 that expired in February 2023, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a Monday post on X. She added that he filed for asylum in September 2022. “The Colorado terrorist attack suspect, Mohamed Soliman, is illegally in our country,” McLaughlin told TIME in a statement.
“He came in through Biden's ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. He must go out under 'TRUMP' Policy,” Trump said of Soliman in his Truth Social post. “This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland. My heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy, and the Great People of Boulder, Colorado!”
According to the FBI’s Michalek, Soliman shouted “Free Palestine” during the attack.
Read More: Who Is the Suspect in the Colorado Attack?
According to the Associated Press, video from the scene showed Soliman holding two clear bottles with transparent liquid while he shouted at onlookers, and another video shows a witness shouting, “He’s right there. He’s throwing Molotov cocktails,” as an armed police officer approaches him.
Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said that the attack took place around 1:30 p.m. local time on Sunday, June 1, and that Soliman was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
“At this time it appears the perpetrator acted alone,” Michalek said at a Monday afternoon press conference. But he noted that authorities “do continue to investigate all possibilities and pursue all investigative leads.”
“If we uncover evidence that others knew of this attack or supported the subject in this attack, rest assured that we will aggressively move to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.
Soliman faces 118 counts on the state level, including 28 counts of attempted first-degree murder, according to court documents. He has also been charged with a federal hate crime.
“The Department of Justice has swiftly charged the illegal alien perpetrator of this heinous attack with a federal hate crime and will hold him accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Our prayers are with the victims and our Jewish community across the world,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
An FBI affidavit supporting the hate crime charge says Soliman confessed to the attack after being taken into custody and told police he planned it for a year, targeting what he described as a “Zionist group.”
Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado J. Bishop Grewell said during Monday’s press conference that Soliman told authorities he had previously tried to buy a firearm, but was unable to because he is not a legal citizen and instead resorted to using Molotov cocktails.
“There were 16 unused Molotov cocktails within arm’s reach of the subject at the time of his arrest,” Dougherty said. “So there is no question that the first responders saved lives and prevented further victims from being injured.”
Soliman is next scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing in the federal case on June 18. A preliminary hearing is set in the state case for July 15.
His wife and five children were detained by ICE on Tuesday, with the White House saying in a post on its official X account that they could be deported as soon as that night under expedited removal. A federal judge temporarily blocked their deportation in a Wednesday ruling. Hearings are set to be held in that case next week.
Who are the victims?
Fifteen people and one dog are believed to have been injured in the attack, Boulder County said in a press release on Thursday.
The victims include eight women and seven men with ages ranging from 25 to 88 years old.Four men and four women between the ages of 52 and 88 were hospitalized Sunday. The injuries were consistent with people being set on fire, Redfearn said that day, adding that one of the victims was in critical condition.
Read more: What We Know About the Victims of the Colorado Attack
The event calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas was part of Run for Their Lives, non-violent running and walking events organized in communities around the world.
Run for Their Lives has two chapters in Colorado, plus 100 others across 30 U.S. states. According to its website, it was started by a group of Israelis in the Bay Area of San Francisco alongside the Hostage and Missing Families Forum (#BringThemHomeNow).
The Boulder attack came almost two weeks after two Israeli embassy staff were fatally shot in Washington, D.C. while attending an event at the Capitol Jewish Museum. The suspect, Elias Rodriguez, told police after the shooting that he did it for Gaza, and “for Palestine.”
Antisemitism and political violence is on the rise across the U.S. The FBI recorded 1,989 incidents of anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2023, the last year for which data is available.