Several injured after ‘terror attack' on promenade in Colorado, US police say
The suspect, identified as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, yelled 'Free Palestine' and used a makeshift flamethrower in the attack, said Mark Michalek, the special agent in charge of the Denver field office.
The suspect was taken into custody.
No charges were immediately announced, but officials said they expect to hold him 'fully accountable'.
The attack occurred at a popular pedestrian mall in Boulder, where a group had gathered for an event to draw attention to Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza.
Injuries ranged from serious to minor.
The suspect was also injured and was taken to the hospital to be treated, but authorities did not elaborate on the nature of his injuries.
Video from the scene showed a witness shouting, 'He's right there. He's throwing Molotov cocktails,' as a police officer with his gun drawn advanced on a bare-chested suspect with containers in each hand.
It occurred more than a week after the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington by a Chicago man who yelled: 'I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza' as he was being led away by police.
FBI leaders in Washington said they were treating the Boulder attack as an act of terrorism, and the Justice Department, which leads investigations into acts of violence driven by religious, racial or ethnic motivations, decried the attack as a 'needless act of violence, which follows recent attacks against Jewish Americans'.
'This act of terror is being investigated as an act of ideologically motivated violence based on the early information, the evidence, and witness accounts. We will speak clearly on these incidents when the facts warrant it,' FBI deputy director Dan Bongino said in a post on X.
Israel's war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others.
They are still holding 58 hostages, around a third believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel's military campaign has killed over 54,000 people in Hamas-run Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.
The offensive has destroyed vast areas, displaced around 90% of the population and left people almost completely reliant on international aid.
Police in Boulder were more circumspect about a motive.
Police Chief Steve Redfearn said it 'would be irresponsible for me to speculate' while witnesses were still being interviewed but noted that the group that had gathered in support of the hostages had assembled peacefully and that injuries of the victims — ranging from serious to minor — were consistent with them having been set on fire.
The violence comes four years after a shooting rampage at a grocery store in Boulder, about 25 miles northwest of Denver, that killed four people.
The gunman was sentenced to life in prison for murder after a jury rejected his attempt to avoid prison time by pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.
Multiple blocks of the pedestrian mall area were evacuated by police.
The scene shortly after the attack was tense, as law enforcement agents with a police dog walked through the streets looking for threats and instructed the public to stay clear of the pedestrian mall.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis said in a statement that he was 'closely monitoring' the situation, adding that 'hate-filled acts of any kind are unacceptable'.
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