Eight people injured in attack on Jewish march in US

Yahoo

4 days ago

Eight people were injured in an assault on a Jewish march in the western US state of Colorado on Sunday, police said, as US and Israeli officials condemned the incident as a terrorist attack.
Witnesses told the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that the suspect used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device into the crowd and shouted "Free Palestine" during the attack, FBI special agent Mark Michalek said at a press conference.
"As a result of these preliminary facts it is clear that this is a targeted act of violence and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism," Michalek said.
The attack took place during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which is celebrated 50 days after Passover and is considered the precursor to the Christian holiday of Pentecost.
Four women and four men aged between 52 and 88 years old were injured, police said in a statement, raising the count from the previously reported six victims.
The suspect was arrested at the scene.
According to Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, the 45-year-old was in the United States without a valid visa. "He was granted a tourist visa by the Biden Administration and then he illegally overstayed that visa," Miller wrote on X.
Intelligence director: Attack targeted Jewish community
In a post on X, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard said the incident was a "targeted terror attack against a weekly meeting of Jewish community members who had just gathered in Boulder, CO to raise awareness of the hostages kidnapped during Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7."
Boulder police said the participants were walking in a "regularly scheduled, weekly peaceful event."
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, wrote on X: "Today, in Boulder, Colorado, Jewish people marched with a moral and humane demand: to return the hostages. In response, the Jewish protesters were brutally attacked," he wrote.
"We are heartbroken by the tragic attack in Colorado and extend our deepest support to all those affected," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum - which brings together the relatives of those held in Gaza - wrote on X.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also sent his condolences, writing on X: "My wife and I and the entire state of Israel pray for the full recovery of the wounded in the vicious terror attack that took place in Boulder Colorado."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem quickly classified the incident as a terrorist attack in posts on X.
Terror has "no place in our great country," Rubio wrote.
Victims set on fire
Redfearn said initial calls to police said a man was setting people on fire.
"When we arrived, we encountered multiple victims that were injured with injuries consistent with burns and other injuries," he said.
At a later press conference, Redfearn thanked emergency workers who rushed to the scene where the suspect was "throwing Molotov cocktails, and using other devices to hurt people."
Rise in anti-Semitic incidents
Since the attacks on Israel by Hamas and other Islamist groups on October 7, 2023, there has been a marked increase in violence in the US classified as anti-Semitic.
Around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 abducted to the Gaza Strip in the attacks, which triggered the Gaza war.
More than 54,300 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the conflict, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. The figures do not distinguish between civilian and militant casualties.