Boulder attack suspect Mohamed Soliman posed as gardener, planned to kill all ‘Zionists'; police reveal chilling details
The suspect, a 45-year-old man identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, posed as a gardener to get close to a group in Boulder holding their weekly demonstration for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza and planned to kill them all with Molotov cocktails, authorities said on Monday. The court documents showed he called the group as 'Zionist'.
The police revealed he had second thoughts and only hurled two out of the 18 incendiary devices he had into the group of nearly 20 people, shouting 'Free Palestine' and accidentally burning himself. Soliman, who is in police custody, used "makeshift flamethrower". He had gas in a backpack sprayer but informed investigators he didn't use it on anyone but himself 'because he had planned on dying".
The police stated in an affidavit, 'He said he had to do it, he should do it, and he would not forgive himself if he did not do it." He didn't implement his full plan 'because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before.'
According to court documents charging him with a federal hate crime, the suspect had planned the attack for over a year and deliberately targeted what he referred to as a 'Zionist group.' Some court filings also listed his first name as Mohammed.
'When he was interviewed about the attack, he said he wanted them all to die, he had no regrets and he would go back and do it again,' Acting U.S. Attorney J. Bishop Grewell for the District of Colorado mentioned during a press conference Monday.
Federal and state prosecutors have filed separate criminal cases against Soliman, charging him with a hate crime and attempted murder, respectively. He also faces additional state charges related to the incendiary devices, with more federal charges possible as the Justice Department pursues a grand jury indictment.
During a state court hearing on Monday, Soliman appeared briefly via video from Boulder County Jail, dressed in an orange jumpsuit. Another hearing is scheduled for Thursday. Prosecutors stated he is being held on a $10 million cash-only bond.
An FBI affidavit mentioned Soliman admitted to the attack after being taken into custody on Sunday and informed the police he was driven by a desire 'to kill all Zionist people,' a reference to the movement to set up and safeguard a Jewish state in Israel.
Twelve people were injured in the attack at the Pearl Street pedestrian mall, a four-block area in downtown Boulder popular with tourists and students. Six victims, aged 67 to 88, were transported to local hospitals. Four of the victims from the attack were shifted to Boulder Community Hospital, while two others were airlifted to the Burn Unit at Aurora Hospital.
In a post on X, the Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Soliman was residing in the US illegally after entering the country in August 2022 on a B2 visa that ended in February 2023.
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