Videos show chaotic scene after man set members of Boulder's Jewish community on fire

USA Today

2 days ago

Videos show chaotic scene after man set members of Boulder's Jewish community on fire In the video, the shirtless man appears to be saying, 'How many children have you killed?' and ''We need to end Zionists.'
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FBI investigating 'attack at Colorado mall
The FBI is investigating a report of a "targeted attack" in a Boulder, Colorado mall.
Videos posted on social media appear to show the hectic moments after a man attacked members of the Jewish community in Boulder, Colorado, with a Molotov cocktail during a march calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
In one video, a shirtless man in dark sunglasses believed to be the suspect holds two glass containers filled with a clear liquid and paces back and forth on a patch of grass, shouting at people nearby. Off to the side, bystanders appear to provide first aid to a person lying on the ground.
Authorities said a male suspect had been taken in custody. Police identified the suspect as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45.
The Anti-Defamation League, an organization that works to fight antisemitism and bias, said the 53-second video was shot after the June 1 attack in which multiple people were set on fire on a pedestrian mall in what the FBI described as a "targeted terrorist attack."
The ADL said, based on its analysis, the shirtless man appears to be saying, 'How many children have you killed?' and ''We need to end Zionists.'
The organization said the man also gestured toward what appeared to be victims of the attack and proclaimed: 'They are killers.'
FBI Assistant Director for Public Affairs Ben Williamson said on X that the suspect "shouted 'Free Palestine' while throwing fire bombs at a crowd of Jewish people."
Six people ranging in ages 67 to 88 were injured and were transported to local hospitals.
Aaron Brooks of Boulder was riding his bike when he heard someone yelling for a doctor and saw a friend running from the courthouse. Brooks said he often participates in the march, so he headed toward the courthouse to see what was going on.
The attack had just happened, he said.
'I saw smoke coming from the ground, blood on the ground, smoke coming from a person,' Brooks said. 'It looked like somebody was burning and people were throwing water on her.'
Brooks said he also saw a shirtless man who was shouting and holding two bottles filled with liquid. He saw another man yelling and assumed they were together, although he later learned the second man was trying to stop the suspect.
'I yelled at him, 'What are you doing? Why did you do this?'' Brooks said. 'My friends were burning and hurt, and I got emotional.'
In the video analyzed by ADL, someone off camera shouts 'stay away, stay away' as the shirtless man continues to pace back and forth and shout. At one point, the man raises his hands and then lies down on the grass as a police officer, gun drawn, approaches.
The officer appears to handcuff the man as another officer approaches. The video ends with the man still on the ground and the police officers standing over him.
Jonathan Greenblatt, national director and chief executive officer of the ADL, noted that the attack is the second on the Jewish community in the United States in just two weeks.
'First, a young couple slaughtered in DC. And now, a firebomb thrown at a group in Boulder, Colorado, as they gathered to express solidarity with the 58 hostages still being held in Gaza by Hamas terrorists,' he said.
Greenblatt said the attacks are part of 'a global campaign of intimidation and terror deliberately directed against the Jewish people.'
In the past few days, he said, Jewish youth in London were assaulted, public spaces in Brisbane, Australia, were defaced with antisemitic graffiti, and synagogues, a Holocaust memorial and a kosher restaurant in Paris were vandalized.
'Sadly, none of this is surprising,' he said. 'In fact, it's entirely predictable. This is precisely where anti-Jewish incitement leads. This is exactly what vicious anti-Zionism enables.'
Follow Michael Collins on X @mcollinsNEWS.