8 hurt in attack targeting Boulder event supporting Israeli hostages

UPI

5 days ago

June 1 (UPI) -- Authorities in Colorado said a man armed with a makeshift flamethrower attacked a group of people demonstrating in support of Israeli hostages near Boulder's county courthouse on Sunday, injuring eight.
The suspect, identified as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman of Colorado Springs, was taken into police custody at the scene. He has been booked into the Boulder County jail on a slew of charges, including first-degree murder, according to jail records.
Bond has been set at $10 million.
Mark Michalek, the FBI special agent in charge, told reporters during a press conference that the suspect is alleged to have attacked the group of demonstrators with the homemade flamethrower and incendiary devices, later said to have been Molotov cocktails.
He said witnesses reported hearing the suspect yell "Free Palestine" during the attack.
"It is clear that this is a targeted act of violence and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism," he said.
Police originally stated six people were injured but in a late Sunday statement said it had identified eight victims, four men and four women between the ages of 52 and 88.
The conditions of the victims ranged from minor to serious, though Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn said he could not confirm specific injuries.
Authorities earlier said four victims had been transported to local hospitals and two were airlifted to the Denver area where they were receiving treatment by the Aurora hospital burn unit.
Redfearn said at least one victim was "very seriously injured, probably safe to say critical condition."
The attack near Pearl St. Mall in downtown Boulder occurred just before 1:30 p.m. MDT, authorities said. Police arrived at the scene to find victims suffering from burns.
The suspect was taken into custody without incident but was transported to the hospital for minor injuries.
"We need to hold the attacker fully accountable. That is my promise -- to hold to the attacker fully accountable," Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty vowed during the press conference.
FBI Director Kash Patel described it as "a targeted terror attack," and his deputy director, Dan Bongino, said it was being investigated as "an act of ideologically motivated violence."
The pro-Israel advocacy group the Anti-Defamation League identified the demonstrators attacked in a statement as participants of the weekly Run for Their Lives event, which sees Jewish community members run and walk in solidarity with Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity.
"Today, America bore witness to yet another heinous act of anti-Semitism designed to terrorize a peaceful community," Colorado Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a statement.
"This type of hate-filled violence has no place in our civilized society and must be universally condemned."
The attack is the latest to occur in the United States targeting Jewish people amid Israel's war in Gaza.
On May 21, Elias Rodriguez, 31, was accused of yelling "Free Palestine" as he was being arrested after allegedly shooting two Israeli embassy employees outside Washington's Capital Jewish Museum, where an event was being hosted by the American Jewish Committee.
Days later, a U.S. citizen from Boulder was charged with planning to firebomb the U.S. embassy in Israel with Molotov cocktails.
The ADL on Sunday said, "We're witnessing a global campaign of intimidation and terror deliberately directed against the Jewish people."
Decades of fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas exploded into a full-fledged war in Gaza after the military group killed 1,200 Israelis and took 251 more hostage in a blood surprise attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel has responded by devastating Gaza with a brutal military offensive, killing more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Last month, Israel launched a new military offensive in the Palestinian enclave, increasing international criticism, including from allies, over the war.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser condemned the Sunday attack as a potential hate crime while stating violence is not the answer to political differences.
"People may have differing views about world events and the Israeli-Hamas conflict, but violence is never the answer to settling differences. Hate has no place in Colorado," he said in a statement.
"We all have the right to peaceably assemble and the freedom to speak our view. But these violent acts -- which are becoming more frequent, brazen and closer to home -- must stop, and those who commit these horrific acts must be fully held to account."
An evacuation zone encompassing several blocks of downtown Boulder was established.
The FBI late Sunday said in a statement that agents located in El Paso County, Colo., were conducting "a court-authorized law enforcement activity" related to the Pearl Street Mall attack.
No other information was given.
According to the ADL, there have been nine plots or attacks allegedly targeting Jews or Jewish institutions in the United States in the past 11 months, a sharp increase from seven between the 54 months between January 2020 to June of last year.