Suspect on expired visa charged over Molotov cocktail attack during Israeli rally in Colorado, US

7NEWS

2 days ago

A suspect has been charged over a Molotov cocktail attack at an Israeli rally in the US state of Colorado.
Twelve people were injured but police have said no one was killed in the attack on Sunday in the city of Boulder.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, has been charged with attempted murder, hate crime, assault and the use of explosives, according to official records. Both federal and state prosecutors have filed separate criminal cases against him. More charges are also possible.
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The father-of-five told investigators he had researched Molotov cocktails on YouTube before making them from glass wine carafe bottles or jars with clear liquid and red rags hanging out of them, the FBI said.
Four women and four men between the ages of 52 and 88 were taken to hospitals after the attack, Boulder Police said.
Injuries raged from serious to minor, with four people since released from hospital, Miri Kornfeld, a Denver-based organiser connected to the rally group that was allegedly targeted, said.
She said those still in hospital include one person whose clothing had caught on fire.
In video captured by Alex Osante, a witness from San Diego, people could be seen pouring water on a woman lying on the ground who Osante said had caught on fire during the attack.
The suspect is being held on a $US10 million ($A15 million) bail.
'Had planned on dying'
Osante witnessed the attack across the pedestrian mall, when he heard the crash of a bottle breaking and a 'boom' followed by people yelling and screaming.
Soliman had 18 incendiary devices on him but only threw out two, he told investigators.
He also had gas in a backpack sprayer but told investigators he didn't spray it on anyone but himself 'because he had planned on dying'.
He didn't carry out his full plan 'because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before'.
'He said he had to do it, he should do it, and he would not forgive himself if he did not do it,' police wrote in an affidavit.
He told investigators he had been planning the attack for more than a year and specifically targeted what he described as a 'Zionist group,' authorities said in court papers.
He had waited 'until after his daughter graduated to conduct the attack,' the affidavit says.
Soliman also told investigators he had tried to buy a gun but was denied because he is not a legal US citizen.
'Illegally in our country'
Soliman, who was born in Egypt, moved three years ago to Colorado Springs where he lived with his wife and five children, according to state court documents. He previously spent 17 years living in Kuwait.
Few details were available about the suspect but US Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Todd Lyons said Soliman had overstayed a visa and had an expired work permit.
'There are millions of individuals like this that we are attempting to locate from the past administration that weren't properly screened that were allowed in,' Lyons said.
'I will tell you that's a huge effort for ICE right now.'
Under former president Joe Biden, ICE prioritised arrests of serious criminals and called for officers to consider humanitarian factors when making arrests.
The attack was the latest act of violence aimed at Jewish people in the US, linked to outrage over Israel's escalating military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
It followed the fatal shooting of two Israel embassy aides that took place outside Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC last month.
Lyons declined to provide more information, but a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson previously said Soliman had entered the country in August 2022 and filed for asylum the following month.
'The suspect, Mohamed Soliman, is illegally in our country,' the spokesperson said.
Soliman is scheduled for a court hearing later on Monday.
US President Donald Trump said such attacks would not be tolerated.
'This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland,' he said in a social media post.
Witnesses reported the suspect used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device into the crowd.
He was heard to yell 'Free Palestine,' according to the FBI. The agency have called the incident a 'targeted terror attack'.
The attack took place on the Pearl St Mall, a popular pedestrian shopping district near the University of Colorado, during an event organised by Run For Their Lives.
The organisation is devoted to drawing attention to the hostages seized in the aftermath of Hamas' 2023 attack on Israel.
Rabbi Yisroel Wilhelm, the Chabad director at the University of Colorado, Boulder, told CBS Colorado the 88-year-old victim was a Holocaust refugee who fled Europe.
The FBI raided and searched Soliman's home in El Paso County, Colorado, the agency said.
'As this is an ongoing investigation, no additional information is available at this time.'
— With AP