Suspect in Boulder firebombing attack to appear in federal court
Suspect in Boulder firebombing attack to appear in federal court Mohamed Soliman is accused of lobbing Molotov cocktails at a group advocating for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
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Authorities charged alleged Boulder attacker with attempted murder
Authorities formally charged Mohamed Sabry Soliman with 118 criminal counts including dozens of attempted murder charges.
The man accused of using incendiary devices in an attack on a peaceful gathering in Boulder, Colorado, to support Israeli hostages in Gaza was scheduled to appear Wednesday in federal court in Denver.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, faces a hate crime charge in the June 1 assault that investigators say he plotted for a year.
Soliman, an Egyptian native who has been held on a $10 million bond, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if he's found guilty of the federal hate crime charges against him.
He has also been charged in state court with 118 criminal counts, including attempted murder and other offenses. Those charges could add up to over 672 years in prison, according to Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty.
The Trump administration detained Soliman's wife, Hayam El Gamal, and five children on immigration charges and said they would be subjected to expedited deportation, posting on social media June 3, 'THEY COULD BE DEPORTED AS EARLY AS TONIGHT.'
But a federal judge in Denver blocked that move the next day, saying they were entitled to due process. By then the family had been transferred to a detention facility in Texas, where the case will be heard.
The attack in Boulder came less than two weeks after two Israeli Embassy staff members were brazenly shot to death in Washington, D.C., amid a rise in antisemitism incidents across the U.S. and as tensions have escalated over Israel's war in Gaza, prompted by a brutal Hamas-led assault on Israeli border communities Oct. 7, 2023.
A city rattled: Divisions deepen in wealthy, liberal Boulder after antisemitic attack
What happened in the attack in Boulder?
Soliman is accused of lobbing Molotov cocktails and using a makeshift flamethrower to target Run for Their Lives, a group advocating for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza for more than 20 months.
Fifteen people ages 52 to 88 were injured with burns ranging from serious to minor when Soliman launched his attack, authorities say. He lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado, after coming to the U.S. on a tourist visa in late 2022 and staying after it expired.
What do authorities say was the suspect's motive?
Soliman said "he wanted them to all die . . . He said he would go back and do it again and had no regret doing what he did," Boulder Detective John Sailer wrote in court papers of the attack on the gathering at a Boulder pedestrian mall. Soliman said that, to him, anyone who supported the existence of Israel on "our land" is a Zionist. He defined "our land" as Palestine, court documents said.
Soliman hurled two of the 18 Molotov cocktails he'd brought with him, authorities said, yelling "Free Palestine."
A federal affidavit charging Soliman with a hate crime and attempted murder says he learned about the march from an online search. He said he waited for his daughter to graduate from high school before executing the plot, according to the affidavit. He hoped to use a gun and had taken shooting classes, but his immigration status prevented him from purchasing a firearm, the affidavit says.
What is the group Run for Their Lives?
The national Run for Their Lives organization has sponsored walks and runs in hundreds of cities since Oct. 7, 2023, the day of the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, as about 1,200 people were killed and 240 were taken hostage.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed since the onset of the war, which Israel launched in response to the border attacks.
Contributing: Phaedra Trethan, Michael Loria, Trevor Hughes
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