Suspect charged in Colorado attack that wounded 8 – DW – 06/02/2025

DW

2 days ago

Multiple people were injured in what the FBI called a "targeted terror attack" in the US state of Colorado. Police said a male suspect attacked a rally in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
Several people were injured in an attack at an outdoor mall in Boulder, Colorado, police said on Sunday.
The attack occurred at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall known for attracting tourists and college students, where a rally in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza was taking place.
The suspect was identified as a 45-year-old who shouted "Free Palestine" and used makeshift incendiary devices in the attack, said Mark Michalek, the FBI special agent in charge of the Denver field office.
The suspect was taken into custody at the scene.
On Monday, he was charged with a federal hate crime for the attack. He faces other charges including assault and the use of explosives. The US Department of Homeland Security said Monday that the man had entered the US on a tourist visa in 2022 and was in the country "illegally."
Several injured in attack on Israeli hostage vigil in US
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Four women and four men between 52 and 88 years old were transported to hospitals after the attack, Boulder police said.
The suspect was also injured and taken to the hospital, but authorities didn't elaborate on the nature of his injuries.
Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said he did not believe anyone else was involved. "We're fairly confident we have the lone suspect in custody," he said.
"This was a beautiful Sunday afternoon in downtown Boulder on Pearl Street and this act was unacceptable," Redfearn said at an earlier press conference. "I ask that you join me in thinking about the victims, the families of those victims, and everyone involved in this tragedy."
"We are fully investigating a targeted terror attack in Boulder, Colorado," FBI Director Kash Patel said on X.
'Terror has no place' in the United States, says Rubio
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio took to X to denounce the attack.
"We're united in prayer for the victims of a targeted terror attack this afternoon in Boulder," Rubio posted. "Terror has no place in our great country."
The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish activist group, said on X that the attack occurred at Sunday's "Boulder Run for Their Lives" event, a weekly gathering of the Jewish community to remember and raise visibility for the Israeli hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he was "shocked by the terrible antisemitic terror attack targeting Jews." In a post on social media, he described it as "antisemitism, fueled by the blood libels spread in the media." without elaborating.
US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a prominent Jewish Democrat, said he was closely monitoring the situation. "This is horrifying, and this cannot continue. We must stand up to antisemitism."
The attack comes over a week after the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington, where a 31-year-old suspect who shouted "Free Palestine" was taken into custody by police.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis posted on social media that it was "unfathomable that the Jewish community is facing another terror attack here in Boulder."
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in New York also expressed outrage at the attack. "Terrorism against Jews does not stop at the Gaza border — it is already burning the streets of America," he said in a statement.
"Today, in Boulder, Colorado, Jewish people marched with a moral and humane demand: to return the hostages. In response, the Jewish protesters were brutally attacked, with an attacker throwing a Molotov cocktails at them," he said. "Make no mistake — this is not a political protest, this is terrorism."
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru, Wesley Rahn