Colorado firebombing victims, witnesses describe horrors of antisemitic attack: ‘The attacker wanted us to burn'
Survivors and witnesses of Sunday's horrific firebombing attack in Colorado recalled the savagery that erupted out of nowhere and injured 15 peaceful marchers advocating for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Run for Their Lives, a group that organizes weekly walks in support of those still in the clutches of the terror group, was targeted in Boulder with Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower by Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, who has since been charged with a hate crime.
The evil incident unfolded just moments after co-organizer Omer Shacher, 34, told attendees they shouldn't fear taking to the streets in honor of the captives.
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'Just as I said that, the attacker wanted us to burn,' Shachar told The Wall Street Journal Wednesday.
'I don't know how to call it — ironic, absurd.'
3 Victim Natalya Reznik, who remains hospitalized in Aurora, Colo., with second-degree burns, recalled the horrific attack on her YouTube page.
YouTube/@natalyareznik
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Dmitriy Reznik, 57, a blogger who was walking with the group when the flames started flying, told The Journal he wasn't sure what was happening — even as he felt the intense heat.
He pulled his wife, Natalya Reznik, 52, who was hunched over and screaming from a puddle of fire, and laid her in a nearby patch of grass.
'Her skin was peeling, and she was thirsty,' Dmitriy told the outlet Wednesday.
Natalya was one of 15 injured in the attack and airlifted to a hospital in nearby Aurora, where she's still being treated for second-degree burns.
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'21st century. Boulder, a liberal college town. Someone decided to burn the Jews. Thankfully, no one died,' she wrote on her Facebook page in Russian on Sunday night. She also shared her recollection of the day's unfathomable events on YouTube from her hospital bed.
Authorities said Soliman disguised himself as a groundskeeper and lay in wait for the group, learning their location by stalking its Facebook page.
He told investigators he had planned the attack for more than a year, initially hoping to pull off a mass shooting, but his immigration status thwarted his ability to obtain a gun.
3 Holocaust survivor Barbara Bandler Steinmetz, 88, (left), pictured with her daughter Julie Steinmetz Shaffer, was injured in the Boulder terror attack.
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He was said to have shouted 'free Palestine' as he unleashed his fiery assault on the walkers, and later told cops he hated 'Zionist people' and 'wished they were all dead.'
'I remember thinking, a gardener on Sunday? I thought something was strange,' Shachar told the Journal.
'Of course, I couldn't tell it was a terrorist.'
One of those injured was 88-year-old Holocaust survivor Barbara Steinmetz, described by Boulder Rabbi Marc Soloway as a 'loving and peaceful warrior and activist' spanning numerous causes.
'For someone to have survived the Holocaust and to see Jewish bodies burning on the ground, it's just the worst thing imaginable,' he said.
Despite the hate-fueled attack, the community is pressing ahead with the previously planned Boulder Jewish Festival, albeit with a beefed-up security presence.
Denver's chapter of Run for Their Lives will join in Sunday's event, which has been repurposed to honor those who were injured in last week's ambush.
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3 Alleged firebomber Mohamed Sabry Soliman faces more than 600 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
'There are 58 hostages in the Gaza Strip there against their will, held in tunnels by Hamas,' Shachar said. 'I don't see any reason to stop walking while there are still hostages there.'
Soliman is facing federal hate crime charges and 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder. If convicted on all counts, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
He will appear in Boulder County Court on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. local time for a return of filing of charges.
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