Colorado fire-bomb suspect to make court appearance
A community vigil at the Boulder Jewish Community Center, following an attack that injured multiple people, in Boulder, Colorado, U.S., June 4, 2025. Andy Cross/Pool via REUTERS
A placard saying \"Boulder strong\" is displayed on a makeshift memorial outside the Boulder Courthouse, days after an attack that injured multiple people in Boulder, Colorado, U.S., June 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mark Makela
FILE PHOTO: Boulder attack suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman poses for a jail booking photograph after his arrest in Boulder, Colorado, U.S. June 2, 2025. Boulder Police Department/Handout via REUTERS/ File photo
Police officers gather on Pearl Street in front of the Boulder County Courthouse, the scene of an attack that injured multiple people, in Boulder, Colorado, U.S. June 2, 2025. REUTERS/Mark Makela/ File Photo
A Boulder police officer patrols with a bomb smelling dog beside a makeshift memorial outside the Boulder Courthouse, days after an attack that injured multiple people in Boulder, Colorado, U.S., June 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mark Makela
The man charged with fire-bombing a Colorado march by people who wanted to raise awareness of Israeli hostages in Gaza is scheduled to be formally charged in state court on Thursday, as those he targeted vowed to carry on their efforts.
State prosecutors say Mohamed Soliman, 45, faces nearly 400 years in prison on attempted murder charges in state court. He also faces other state charges.
Prosecutors on Wednesday said the number of people injured in the attack rose to 15 ranging in age from 25 to 88. A dog also was injured.
Soliman also faces federal hate crimes charges that carry a life sentence. A federal court appearance is scheduled for Friday.
The Boulder public defenders office, listed in court documents as representing Soliman, did not respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors say that Soliman, an Egyptian national, on Sunday tossed Molotov cocktails and yelled "Free Palestine" at people taking part in an event organized by Run for Their Lives, an organization devoted to drawing attention to the hostages seized during Hamas' 2023 attack on Israel.
Soliman entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2022 and recently lived in Colorado Springs. Federal officials say he had overstayed that tourist visa and his work permit had expired, and was in the country illegally.
His family, including his wife, two teenagers and three younger children, were taken into custody on Tuesday and may be deported, though a federal judge on Wednesday blocked their immediate removal.
The attack was the latest act of violence aimed at Jewish Americans amid Israel's escalating military offensive in Gaza. It followed the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy aides that took place outside Washington's Capital Jewish Museum last month.
WALK ON
Shira Weiss, the global coordinator for the Run for Their Lives grassroots movement, said the Boulder attack had stunned her organization, which has 230 chapters around the globe.
Weiss said it was bewildering why the organization - which she said is apolitical, aims to stay out of policy arguments and that had never threatened before - was targeted by Soliman.
"This is so sad that we were trying to do something positive and something good, and this horrible thing happened," she said.
Following the attack Weiss asked local chapters to pause their short weekly walks, but overwhelmingly heard back that people wanted to carry on.
About 80% of chapters will hold their weekly walks as scheduled this weekend. That includes a Sunday walk in Boulder, which will coincide with the city's 30th annual Jewish festival, which organizers said would go on with heightened security measures and a focus on the efforts of Run for Their Lives.
Weiss has received 20 inquiries about starting new chapters since the attack in Boulder, and has also seen an increase in the number of people wanting to walk with existing groups.
Maya Bajayo, organizer for the Denver chapter of Run for Their Lives, said the group will join the Boulder chapter on its Sunday walk. Despite anxieties about security, she expects that all 50 regular members of her group would participate. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
10 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Riot police, anti-ICE protesters square off in Los Angeles after raids
Police detains a protester blocking the garage entrance of the Los Angeles Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles, California. PHOTO: REUTERS LOS ANGELES - Helmeted police in riot gear turned out on the evening of June 6 in a tense confrontation with protesters in downtown Los Angeles, after a day of federal immigration raids in which dozens of people across the city were reported to be taken into custody. Live Reuters video showed Los Angeles Police Department officers lined up on a downtown street wielding batons and what appeared to be tear gas rifles, facing off with demonstrators after authorities had ordered crowds of protesters to disperse around nightfall. Early in the stand-off, some protesters hurled chunks of broken concrete toward officers, and police responded by firing volleys of tear gas and pepper spray. Police also fired "flash-bang" concussion rounds. It was not clear whether there were any immediate arrests. An LAPD spokesman, Mr Drake Madison, told Reuters that police on the scene had declared an unlawful assembly, meaning that those who failed to leave the area were subject to arrest. Television news footage earlier in the day showed caravans of unmarked military-style vehicles and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents targeted several locations, including a Home Depot in the city's Wetlake District, an apparel store in the Fashion District and a clothing warehouse in South Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles City News Service (CNS). CNS and other local media reported dozens of people were taken into custody during the raids, the latest in a series of such sweeps conducted in a number of cities as part of President Donald Trump's extensive crackdown on illegal immigration. The Republican president has vowed to arrest and deport undocumented migrants in record numbers. The LAPD did not take part in the immigration enforcement action. It was deployed to quell civil unrest after crowds protesting the deportation raids spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the walls of a federal court building and massed outside a nearby jail where some of the detainees were believed to be held. Impromptu demonstrations had also erupted at some of the raid locations earlier in the day. One organised labour executive, Mr David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union of California, was injured and detained by ICE at one site, according to an SEIU statement. The union said Mr Huerta was arrested "while exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity." No details about the nature or severity of Mr Huerta's injury were given. It was not clear whether he was charged with a crime. ICE did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for information about its enforcement actions or Mr Huerta's detention. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement condemning the immigration raids, saying, "these tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
AsiaOne
2 hours ago
- AsiaOne
6 killed, 80 wounded in intense Russian air attacks on Ukraine, World News
KYIV - Russia launched an intense missile and drone barrage at the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in the early hours of Friday (June 6), killing at least six people, Ukrainian officials said, as powerful explosions reverberated across the country. The attacks followed a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin, conveyed via US President Donald Trump, that the Kremlin would hit back after Ukrainian drones destroyed several strategic bomber aircraft in attacks deep inside Russia. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said three emergency responders were killed in the missile and drone salvo against the capital. Two died in an attack on the northern city of Chernihiv and at least one more in the northwestern city of Lutsk. "Those killed in Kyiv were rescue workers who arrived at the scene of an initial strike and, unfortunately, were killed in a repeat Russian strike," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, writing on X, said Russia had "'responded' to its destroyed aircraft... by attacking civilians in Ukraine.... Multi-storey buildings hit. Energy infrastructure damaged." Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out the strike on military and military-related targets in response to what it called Ukrainian "terrorist acts" against Russia. "They gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, when asked about how Ukraine's earlier drone strikes had affected the conflict. Zelenskiy said 80 people nationwide had been injured in the attacks, which also struck several other towns and cities. He said residents could still be trapped under rubble. In Chernihiv, the national emergency services said two bodies were recovered from the rubble of a wrecked industrial enterprise. In Lutsk, the body of a man was found in the ruins of an apartment block, while emergency crews kept searching for his wife. Thirty people were hurt in the city, where educational institutions and a government building were also hit. Russian forces also struck industrial facilities and infrastructure in the western city of Ternopil, leaving parts of it without power, Mayor Serhii Nadal said. The regional administration said the attack had injured 10 people and asked residents to temporarily stay inside due to a high concentration of toxic substances in the air after a fire. The air force said Russia had used 407 drones, one of the largest numbers recorded in a single attack. It said 45 cruise and ballistic missiles were also fired. Attacks hit Kyiv transport system Kyiv's metro transport system was disrupted by a Russian strike that hit and damaged tracks between stations, the military administration said. The state rail company said it was also diverting some trains due to rail damage outside the city. Reuters witnesses reported a series of booming explosions powerful enough to rattle windows far from the impact sites. Some Kyiv residents sought shelter in metro stations, or in underground car parks. In the capital's Solomianskyi district, a Russian drone slammed into the side of an apartment building, leaving a gaping hole and burn marks, a Reuters photographer at the scene said. Falling concrete blocks from the building crushed cars parked below. Two police investigators were examining what appeared to be the drone's engine. Earlier in the night, Reuters reporters heard the sound of Russian kamikaze drones buzzing in the sky, accompanied by the sounds of outgoing fire from Ukrainian anti-aircraft batteries. Zelenskiy called for concerted pressure on Russia. "If someone is not applying pressure and is giving the war more time to take lives - that is complicity and accountability. We must act decisively," he wrote on X. The Ukrainian military said it had launched a pre-emptive strike overnight on the Engels and Dyagilevo airfields in the Russian regions of Saratov and Ryazan, in addition to striking at least three fuel reservoirs. In one of the most audacious attacks of the three-year-old war between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian spies last weekend destroyed some of Russia's strategic bomber aircraft on the ground using quadrocopter drones hidden in wooden sheds. After a phone conversation with Putin on Wednesday, Trump said the Kremlin was planning an unspecified response to the Ukrainian attack on the Russian air bases. [[nid:718785]]
AsiaOne
3 hours ago
- AsiaOne
6 killed, 80 wounded in intense Russian air attacks on Ukraine
KYIV - Russia launched an intense missile and drone barrage at the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in the early hours of Friday (June 6), killing at least six people, Ukrainian officials said, as powerful explosions reverberated across the country. The attacks followed a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin, conveyed via US President Donald Trump, that the Kremlin would hit back after Ukrainian drones destroyed several strategic bomber aircraft in attacks deep inside Russia. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said three emergency responders were killed in the missile and drone salvo against the capital. Two died in an attack on the northern city of Chernihiv and at least one more in the northwestern city of Lutsk. "Those killed in Kyiv were rescue workers who arrived at the scene of an initial strike and, unfortunately, were killed in a repeat Russian strike," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, writing on X, said Russia had "'responded' to its destroyed aircraft... by attacking civilians in Ukraine.... Multi-storey buildings hit. Energy infrastructure damaged." Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out the strike on military and military-related targets in response to what it called Ukrainian "terrorist acts" against Russia. "They gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, when asked about how Ukraine's earlier drone strikes had affected the conflict. Zelenskiy said 80 people nationwide had been injured in the attacks, which also struck several other towns and cities. He said residents could still be trapped under rubble. In Chernihiv, the national emergency services said two bodies were recovered from the rubble of a wrecked industrial enterprise. In Lutsk, the body of a man was found in the ruins of an apartment block, while emergency crews kept searching for his wife. Thirty people were hurt in the city, where educational institutions and a government building were also hit. Russian forces also struck industrial facilities and infrastructure in the western city of Ternopil, leaving parts of it without power, Mayor Serhii Nadal said. The regional administration said the attack had injured 10 people and asked residents to temporarily stay inside due to a high concentration of toxic substances in the air after a fire. The air force said Russia had used 407 drones, one of the largest numbers recorded in a single attack. It said 45 cruise and ballistic missiles were also fired. Attacks hit Kyiv transport system Kyiv's metro transport system was disrupted by a Russian strike that hit and damaged tracks between stations, the military administration said. The state rail company said it was also diverting some trains due to rail damage outside the city. Reuters witnesses reported a series of booming explosions powerful enough to rattle windows far from the impact sites. Some Kyiv residents sought shelter in metro stations, or in underground car parks. In the capital's Solomianskyi district, a Russian drone slammed into the side of an apartment building, leaving a gaping hole and burn marks, a Reuters photographer at the scene said. Falling concrete blocks from the building crushed cars parked below. Two police investigators were examining what appeared to be the drone's engine. Earlier in the night, Reuters reporters heard the sound of Russian kamikaze drones buzzing in the sky, accompanied by the sounds of outgoing fire from Ukrainian anti-aircraft batteries. Zelenskiy called for concerted pressure on Russia. "If someone is not applying pressure and is giving the war more time to take lives - that is complicity and accountability. We must act decisively," he wrote on X. The Ukrainian military said it had launched a pre-emptive strike overnight on the Engels and Dyagilevo airfields in the Russian regions of Saratov and Ryazan, in addition to striking at least three fuel reservoirs. In one of the most audacious attacks of the three-year-old war between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian spies last weekend destroyed some of Russia's strategic bomber aircraft on the ground using quadrocopter drones hidden in wooden sheds. After a phone conversation with Putin on Wednesday, Trump said the Kremlin was planning an unspecified response to the Ukrainian attack on the Russian air bases. [[nid:718785]]
