Latest news with #EdVictor
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
They were marching for Israeli hostages. Then an antisemitic firebombing started
It started as a typical Sunday for Ed Victor. Every Sunday since September, he had stood in silent solidarity with members of the Jewish community in front of the Boulder County Historic Court House. The group had gathered to take part in 'Run for Their Lives' — a global event organized by members of the Jewish community to bring attention to the 58 hostages still in Gaza. Even when there had been hecklers, Victor and other members would focus on setting up their demonstration — signs reading 'Let them go now,' and posters bearing the faces of 58 hostages still being held in Gaza. Victor was talking to someone, looking west toward the mountains, he said, when he first felt the heat. 'Huge amount of flame,' Victor said. Then, he saw someone on fire. The quiet, peaceful march in Boulder, Colorado, quickly devolved into chaos after a man used a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to set people at the plaza on fire in an antisemitic attack. Smoke rose as demonstrators and onlookers rushed to find anything that could hold water to pour onto the more than a half dozen people set ablaze. Clothing singed off bodies. Screams from burn victims and sirens from ambulances, police cars and firetrucks pierced the air. Victor used flags and banners meant to bring awareness to the hostages to smother flames that had consumed another marcher. At least 12 people were injured in the attack, District Attorney Michael Dougherty said Monday. Two are still hospitalized, officials said. 'I never ever, ever would've thought that this would've happen. I really can't and I'm so shocked that it did,' Victor said. Jewish leaders had been warning of the historic rise in antisemitic violence and threats since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. Nearly two years later, US-led attempts to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas remain unsuccessful, fighting in Gaza continues and antisemitic threats in the US have boiled over into violence. Sunday's antisemitic attack took place just weeks after two Israeli Embassy staff members in Washington DC were killed by a pro-Palestinian attacker and an arsonist targeted Josh Shapiro's home during Passover because of the Pennsylvania governor's views on the war in the Gaza, heightening fear in the Jewish community. The FBI is investigating Sunday's firebombing as 'an act of terrorism.' The 'Run for Their Lives' event had been meeting regularly since mid-October 2023. The suspect, later identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, had been planning the attack for nearly as long, he told federal authorities. He targeted the group after researching them online, but waited nearly a year to attack them — until his daughter graduated high school, according to an affidavit filed Sunday. Soliman, who was born in Egypt but lived in Kuwait for 17 years, arrived in the United States in August 2022 as a non-immigrant visitor, according to multiple law enforcement officials. Soliman was seeking revenge after he determined the group didn't care about Palestinian hostages, per the affidavit. He told authorities he 'wanted to kill all Zionist people.' Witnesses said the suspect showed up to the plaza looking like a gardener, officials said. He wore a utility vest over his shirt, and carried a garden sprayer. Investigators believe he stopped at nearby gas stations to fill up bottles and the sprayer before the attack, arriving in the area around 1 p.m. He threw two Molotov cocktails, and the district attorney said police later found 16 more in the area. Brian Horwitz was at a nearby cafe having brunch with family when the attack began. The 37-year-old heard the screams and ran toward the suspect. ''F*** you Zionists. You're killing my people so I kill you,'' Horwitz said he heard the man say. The attacker then singled out people in the plaza saying ''you're a killer, you're a killer,'' Horwitz said. Horwitz said the man then locked eyes with him. 'That's when he looked at me and said you're a killer,' Horwitz recalled. He ran to an elderly victim who had burns on her feet and hands. The woman told him to worry about her friend instead, he said. Her friend had severe burns to her calf, the skin barely visible. 'She was cool, calm and collected - almost as if she had been there before,' Horwitz said. Three minutes after he called emergency services, police arrived and took the suspect into custody, Horwitz said. He noted the wait felt like an eternity. 'It was easily the most horrific thing I've ever seen in my life,' Horwitz said. 'There's someone who is outraged enough to go and attack these elderly people who are doing absolutely nothing to provoke it other than walk in silence and meet in a courtyard peacefully. It's unbelievable.' Soliman 'stated he would do it (conduct an attack) again,' according to the affidavit. He later told investigators he had planned on dying in the attack, according to a warrant for his arrest. Many of the injured were older adults. None of them have died, Boulder police said. Two were burned so badly, they had to be airlifted to nearby hospitals. In one video, a severely injured woman is seen lying on the ground as bystanders pour water on her. 'There were people on the ground and a bunch of others running over with buckets and bottles and whatever they could carry water in' the owner of Heady Bauer, a local clothing store, told CNN. 'Everyone was dumping water on the burned people, especially one woman on the ground who was totally torched from her hair to her legs.' Aaron Brooks said he saw 'smoke coming from a human being.' There was also singed grass and black marks around the site of the attack, he said. Horwitz said he saw pants completely burned and singed off, and 'it looked like their skin had just melted off their bodies.' Among those injured are a mother and daughter, said Elyana Funk, executive director of the University of Boulder Hillel. The mother 'is a Holocaust survivor in her 80's, who's been through certainly enough trauma.' Funk said she talked to some of the victims, who range in age from 52 to 88, including one woman who is 'healing from horrible burns.' The woman, Funk said, 'really felt like this happened not just to her, but to the whole community.' Soliman has been arrested and charged with a federal hate crime, and is facing a slew of state charges, including 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder. The weekly vigil in Boulder is now on hold, but Funk said the community will still find ways to come together. Victor says he'll be back next week again, just like he's been for nearly a year. 'This would not stop me,' he said. 'We'll see what other people decide they want to do, but I will be here.' CNN's John Miller, Sara Smart, Sarah Dewberry, Mark Morales, Martin Goillandeau, Amanda Jackson, Isaac Yee, Amanda Musa, Karina Tsui, Josh Campbell, Hanna Park, Matt Rehbein and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.
CNN
2 days ago
- General
- CNN
They were marching for Israeli hostages. Then an antisemitic firebombing started
Race & ethnicity The Middle East Israel-Hamas warFacebookTweetLink Follow It started as a typical Sunday for Ed Victor. Every Sunday since September, he had stood in silent solidarity with members of the Jewish community in front of the Boulder County Historic Court House. The group had gathered to take part in 'Run for Their Lives' — a global event organized by members of the Jewish community to bring attention to the 58 hostages still in Gaza. Even when there had been hecklers, Victor and other members would focus on setting up their demonstration — signs reading 'Let them go now,' and posters bearing the faces of 58 hostages still being held in Gaza. Victor was talking to someone, looking west toward the mountains, he said, when he first felt the heat. 'Huge amount of flame,' Victor said. Then, he saw someone on fire. The quiet, peaceful march in Boulder, Colorado, quickly devolved into chaos after a man used a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to set people at the plaza on fire in an antisemitic attack. Smoke rose as demonstrators and onlookers rushed to find anything that could hold water to pour onto the more than a half dozen people set ablaze. Clothing singed off bodies. Screams from burn victims and sirens from ambulances, police cars and firetrucks pierced the air. Victor used flags and banners meant to bring awareness to the hostages to smother flames that had consumed another marcher. At least 12 people were injured in the attack, District Attorney Michael Dougherty said Monday. Two are still hospitalized, officials said. 'I never ever, ever would've thought that this would've happen. I really can't and I'm so shocked that it did,' Victor said. Jewish leaders had been warning of the historic rise in antisemitic violence and threats since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. Nearly two years later, US-led attempts to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas remain unsuccessful, fighting in Gaza continues and antisemitic threats in the US have boiled over into violence. Sunday's antisemitic attack took place just weeks after two Israeli Embassy staff members in Washington DC were killed by a pro-Palestinian attacker and an arsonist targeted Josh Shapiro's home during Passover because of the Pennsylvania governor's views on the war in the Gaza, heightening fear in the Jewish community. The FBI is investigating Sunday's firebombing as 'an act of terrorism.' The 'Run for Their Lives' event had been meeting regularly since mid-October 2023. The suspect, later identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, had been planning the attack for nearly as long, he told federal authorities. He targeted the group after researching them online, but waited nearly a year to attack them — until his daughter graduated high school, according to an affidavit filed Sunday. Soliman, who was born in Egypt but lived in Kuwait for 17 years, arrived in the United States in August 2022 as a non-immigrant visitor, according to multiple law enforcement officials. Soliman was seeking revenge after he determined the group didn't care about Palestinian hostages, per the affidavit. He told authorities he 'wanted to kill all Zionist people.' Witnesses said the suspect showed up to the plaza looking like a gardener, officials said. He wore a utility vest over his shirt, and carried a garden sprayer. Investigators believe he stopped at nearby gas stations to fill up bottles and the sprayer before the attack, arriving in the area around 1 p.m. He threw two Molotov cocktails, and the district attorney said police later found 16 more in the area. Brian Horwitz was at a nearby cafe having brunch with family when the attack began. The 37-year-old heard the screams and ran toward the suspect. ''F*** you Zionists. You're killing my people so I kill you,'' Horwitz said he heard the man say. The attacker then singled out people in the plaza saying ''you're a killer, you're a killer,'' Horwitz said. Horwitz said the man then locked eyes with him. 'That's when he looked at me and said you're a killer,' Horwitz recalled. He ran to an elderly victim who had burns on her feet and hands. The woman told him to worry about her friend instead, he said. Her friend had severe burns to her calf, the skin barely visible. 'She was cool, calm and collected - almost as if she had been there before,' Horwitz said. Three minutes after he called emergency services, police arrived and took the suspect into custody, Horwitz said. He noted the wait felt like an eternity. 'It was easily the most horrific thing I've ever seen in my life,' Horwitz said. 'There's someone who is outraged enough to go and attack these elderly people who are doing absolutely nothing to provoke it other than walk in silence and meet in a courtyard peacefully. It's unbelievable.' Soliman 'stated he would do it (conduct an attack) again,' according to the affidavit. He later told investigators he had planned on dying in the attack, according to a warrant for his arrest. Many of the injured were older adults. None of them have died, Boulder police said. Two were burned so badly, they had to be airlifted to nearby hospitals. In one video, a severely injured woman is seen lying on the ground as bystanders pour water on her. 'There were people on the ground and a bunch of others running over with buckets and bottles and whatever they could carry water in' the owner of Heady Bauer, a local clothing store, told CNN. 'Everyone was dumping water on the burned people, especially one woman on the ground who was totally torched from her hair to her legs.' Aaron Brooks said he saw 'smoke coming from a human being.' There was also singed grass and black marks around the site of the attack, he said. Horwitz said he saw pants completely burned and singed off, and 'it looked like their skin had just melted off their bodies.' Among those injured are a mother and daughter, said Elyana Funk, executive director of the University of Boulder Hillel. The mother 'is a Holocaust survivor in her 80's, who's been through certainly enough trauma.' Funk said she talked to some of the victims, who range in age from 52 to 88, including one woman who is 'healing from horrible burns.' The woman, Funk said, 'really felt like this happened not just to her, but to the whole community.' Soliman has been arrested and charged with a federal hate crime, and is facing a slew of state charges, including 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder. The weekly vigil in Boulder is now on hold, but Funk said the community will still find ways to come together. Victor says he'll be back next week again, just like he's been for nearly a year. 'This would not stop me,' he said. 'We'll see what other people decide they want to do, but I will be here.' CNN's John Miller, Sara Smart, Sarah Dewberry, Mark Morales, Martin Goillandeau, Amanda Jackson, Isaac Yee, Amanda Musa, Karina Tsui, Josh Campbell, Hanna Park, Matt Rehbein and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.
CNN
2 days ago
- General
- CNN
They were marching for Israeli hostages. Then an antisemitic firebombing started
It started as a typical Sunday for Ed Victor. Every Sunday since September, he had stood in silent solidarity with members of the Jewish community in front of the Boulder County Historic Court House. The group had gathered to take part in 'Run for Their Lives' — a global event organized by members of the Jewish community to bring attention to the 58 hostages still in Gaza. Even when there had been hecklers, Victor and other members would focus on setting up their demonstration — signs reading 'Let them go now,' and posters bearing the faces of 58 hostages still being held in Gaza. Victor was talking to someone, looking west toward the mountains, he said, when he first felt the heat. 'Huge amount of flame,' Victor said. Then, he saw someone on fire. The quiet, peaceful march in Boulder, Colorado, quickly devolved into chaos after a man used a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to set people at the plaza on fire in an antisemitic attack. Smoke rose as demonstrators and onlookers rushed to find anything that could hold water to pour onto the more than a half dozen people set ablaze. Clothing singed off bodies. Screams from burn victims and sirens from ambulances, police cars and firetrucks pierced the air. Victor used flags and banners meant to bring awareness to the hostages to smother flames that had consumed another marcher. At least 12 people were injured in the attack, District Attorney Michael Dougherty said Monday. Two are still hospitalized, officials said. 'I never ever, ever would've thought that this would've happen. I really can't and I'm so shocked that it did,' Victor said. Jewish leaders had been warning of the historic rise in antisemitic violence and threats since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. Nearly two years later, US-led attempts to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas remain unsuccessful, fighting in Gaza continues and antisemitic threats in the US have boiled over into violence. Sunday's antisemitic attack took place just weeks after two Israeli Embassy staff members in Washington DC were killed by a pro-Palestinian attacker and an arsonist targeted Josh Shapiro's home during Passover because of the Pennsylvania governor's views on the war in the Gaza, heightening fear in the Jewish community. The FBI is investigating Sunday's firebombing as 'an act of terrorism.' The 'Run for Their Lives' event had been meeting regularly since mid-October 2023. The suspect, later identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, had been planning the attack for nearly as long, he told federal authorities. He targeted the group after researching them online, but waited nearly a year to attack them — until his daughter graduated high school, according to an affidavit filed Sunday. Soliman, who was born in Egypt but lived in Kuwait for 17 years, arrived in the United States in August 2022 as a non-immigrant visitor, according to multiple law enforcement officials. Soliman was seeking revenge after he determined the group didn't care about Palestinian hostages, per the affidavit. He told authorities he 'wanted to kill all Zionist people.' Witnesses said the suspect showed up to the plaza looking like a gardener, officials said. He wore a utility vest over his shirt, and carried a garden sprayer. Investigators believe he stopped at nearby gas stations to fill up bottles and the sprayer before the attack, arriving in the area around 1 p.m. He threw two Molotov cocktails, and the district attorney said police later found 16 more in the area. Brian Horwitz was at a nearby cafe having brunch with family when the attack began. The 37-year-old heard the screams and ran toward the suspect. ''F*** you Zionists. You're killing my people so I kill you,'' Horwitz said he heard the man say. The attacker then singled out people in the plaza saying ''you're a killer, you're a killer,'' Horwitz said. Horwitz said the man then locked eyes with him. 'That's when he looked at me and said you're a killer,' Horwitz recalled. He ran to an elderly victim who had burns on her feet and hands. The woman told him to worry about her friend instead, he said. Her friend had severe burns to her calf, the skin barely visible. 'She was cool, calm and collected - almost as if she had been there before,' Horwitz said. Three minutes after he called emergency services, police arrived and took the suspect into custody, Horwitz said. He noted the wait felt like an eternity. 'It was easily the most horrific thing I've ever seen in my life,' Horwitz said. 'There's someone who is outraged enough to go and attack these elderly people who are doing absolutely nothing to provoke it other than walk in silence and meet in a courtyard peacefully. It's unbelievable.' Soliman 'stated he would do it (conduct an attack) again,' according to the affidavit. He later told investigators he had planned on dying in the attack, according to a warrant for his arrest. Many of the injured were older adults. None of them have died, Boulder police said. Two were burned so badly, they had to be airlifted to nearby hospitals. In one video, a severely injured woman is seen lying on the ground as bystanders pour water on her. 'There were people on the ground and a bunch of others running over with buckets and bottles and whatever they could carry water in' the owner of Heady Bauer, a local clothing store, told CNN. 'Everyone was dumping water on the burned people, especially one woman on the ground who was totally torched from her hair to her legs.' Aaron Brooks said he saw 'smoke coming from a human being.' There was also singed grass and black marks around the site of the attack, he said. Horwitz said he saw pants completely burned and singed off, and 'it looked like their skin had just melted off their bodies.' Among those injured are a mother and daughter, said Elyana Funk, executive director of the University of Boulder Hillel. The mother 'is a Holocaust survivor in her 80's, who's been through certainly enough trauma.' Funk said she talked to some of the victims, who range in age from 52 to 88, including one woman who is 'healing from horrible burns.' The woman, Funk said, 'really felt like this happened not just to her, but to the whole community.' Soliman has been arrested and charged with a federal hate crime, and is facing a slew of state charges, including 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder. The weekly vigil in Boulder is now on hold, but Funk said the community will still find ways to come together. Victor says he'll be back next week again, just like he's been for nearly a year. 'This would not stop me,' he said. 'We'll see what other people decide they want to do, but I will be here.' CNN's John Miller, Sara Smart, Sarah Dewberry, Mark Morales, Martin Goillandeau, Amanda Jackson, Isaac Yee, Amanda Musa, Karina Tsui, Josh Campbell, Hanna Park, Matt Rehbein and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.
CNN
2 days ago
- General
- CNN
They were marching for Israeli hostages. Then an antisemitic firebombing started
Race & ethnicity The Middle East Israel-Hamas warFacebookTweetLink Follow It started as a typical Sunday for Ed Victor. Every Sunday since September, he had stood in silent solidarity with members of the Jewish community in front of the Boulder County Historic Court House. The group had gathered to take part in 'Run for Their Lives' — a global event organized by members of the Jewish community to bring attention to the 58 hostages still in Gaza. Even when there had been hecklers, Victor and other members would focus on setting up their demonstration — signs reading 'Let them go now,' and posters bearing the faces of 58 hostages still being held in Gaza. Victor was talking to someone, looking west toward the mountains, he said, when he first felt the heat. 'Huge amount of flame,' Victor said. Then, he saw someone on fire. The quiet, peaceful march in Boulder, Colorado, quickly devolved into chaos after a man used a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to set people at the plaza on fire in an antisemitic attack. Smoke rose as demonstrators and onlookers rushed to find anything that could hold water to pour onto the more than a half dozen people set ablaze. Clothing singed off bodies. Screams from burn victims and sirens from ambulances, police cars and firetrucks pierced the air. Victor used flags and banners meant to bring awareness to the hostages to smother flames that had consumed another marcher. At least 12 people were injured in the attack, District Attorney Michael Dougherty said Monday. Two are still hospitalized, officials said. 'I never ever, ever would've thought that this would've happen. I really can't and I'm so shocked that it did,' Victor said. Jewish leaders had been warning of the historic rise in antisemitic violence and threats since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. Nearly two years later, US-led attempts to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas remain unsuccessful, fighting in Gaza continues and antisemitic threats in the US have boiled over into violence. Sunday's antisemitic attack took place just weeks after two Israeli Embassy staff members in Washington DC were killed by a pro-Palestinian attacker and an arsonist targeted Josh Shapiro's home during Passover because of the Pennsylvania governor's views on the war in the Gaza, heightening fear in the Jewish community. The FBI is investigating Sunday's firebombing as 'an act of terrorism.' The 'Run for Their Lives' event had been meeting regularly since mid-October 2023. The suspect, later identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, had been planning the attack for nearly as long, he told federal authorities. He targeted the group after researching them online, but waited nearly a year to attack them — until his daughter graduated high school, according to an affidavit filed Sunday. Soliman, who was born in Egypt but lived in Kuwait for 17 years, arrived in the United States in August 2022 as a non-immigrant visitor, according to multiple law enforcement officials. Soliman was seeking revenge after he determined the group didn't care about Palestinian hostages, per the affidavit. He told authorities he 'wanted to kill all Zionist people.' Witnesses said the suspect showed up to the plaza looking like a gardener, officials said. He wore a utility vest over his shirt, and carried a garden sprayer. Investigators believe he stopped at nearby gas stations to fill up bottles and the sprayer before the attack, arriving in the area around 1 p.m. He threw two Molotov cocktails, and the district attorney said police later found 16 more in the area. Brian Horwitz was at a nearby cafe having brunch with family when the attack began. The 37-year-old heard the screams and ran toward the suspect. ''F*** you Zionists. You're killing my people so I kill you,'' Horwitz said he heard the man say. The attacker then singled out people in the plaza saying ''you're a killer, you're a killer,'' Horwitz said. Horwitz said the man then locked eyes with him. 'That's when he looked at me and said you're a killer,' Horwitz recalled. He ran to an elderly victim who had burns on her feet and hands. The woman told him to worry about her friend instead, he said. Her friend had severe burns to her calf, the skin barely visible. 'She was cool, calm and collected - almost as if she had been there before,' Horwitz said. Three minutes after he called emergency services, police arrived and took the suspect into custody, Horwitz said. He noted the wait felt like an eternity. 'It was easily the most horrific thing I've ever seen in my life,' Horwitz said. 'There's someone who is outraged enough to go and attack these elderly people who are doing absolutely nothing to provoke it other than walk in silence and meet in a courtyard peacefully. It's unbelievable.' Soliman 'stated he would do it (conduct an attack) again,' according to the affidavit. He later told investigators he had planned on dying in the attack, according to a warrant for his arrest. Many of the injured were older adults. None of them have died, Boulder police said. Two were burned so badly, they had to be airlifted to nearby hospitals. In one video, a severely injured woman is seen lying on the ground as bystanders pour water on her. 'There were people on the ground and a bunch of others running over with buckets and bottles and whatever they could carry water in' the owner of Heady Bauer, a local clothing store, told CNN. 'Everyone was dumping water on the burned people, especially one woman on the ground who was totally torched from her hair to her legs.' Aaron Brooks said he saw 'smoke coming from a human being.' There was also singed grass and black marks around the site of the attack, he said. Horwitz said he saw pants completely burned and singed off, and 'it looked like their skin had just melted off their bodies.' Among those injured are a mother and daughter, said Elyana Funk, executive director of the University of Boulder Hillel. The mother 'is a Holocaust survivor in her 80's, who's been through certainly enough trauma.' Funk said she talked to some of the victims, who range in age from 52 to 88, including one woman who is 'healing from horrible burns.' The woman, Funk said, 'really felt like this happened not just to her, but to the whole community.' Soliman has been arrested and charged with a federal hate crime, and is facing a slew of state charges, including 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder. The weekly vigil in Boulder is now on hold, but Funk said the community will still find ways to come together. Victor says he'll be back next week again, just like he's been for nearly a year. 'This would not stop me,' he said. 'We'll see what other people decide they want to do, but I will be here.' CNN's John Miller, Sara Smart, Sarah Dewberry, Mark Morales, Martin Goillandeau, Amanda Jackson, Isaac Yee, Amanda Musa, Karina Tsui, Josh Campbell, Hanna Park, Matt Rehbein and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.
ABC News
3 days ago
- General
- ABC News
What we know about the suspected 'terror attack' at the Boulder mall
It happens every week in Boulder, Colorado. A group of volunteers from the Run for Their Lives organisation silently march through the streets to raise awareness of the hostages still held in Gaza. About 20 or 30 had turned up this Sunday, stopping at the courthouse where they usually read the names of those hostages. "There was somebody there that I didn't even notice," participant Ed Victor told CBS News. "Although he was making a lot of noise, but I'm just focused on my job of being quiet and getting lined up. "And from my point of view, all of a sudden, I felt the heat." Lynn Segal, 72, was also among the group gathered when a "rope of fire" shot in front of her and then "two big flares". She said the scene at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall, a four-block area in downtown Boulder, quickly turned chaotic as people worked to find water to put out flames and find help. "There were people who were burning. I wanted to help but I didn't want to be associated with the perpetrator," said Ms Segal, who said she was wearing a pro-Palestinian T-shirt. The FBI said the suspect allegedly shouted "Free Palestine" while using a makeshift flamethrower at a crowd of people. FBI leaders in Washington said they were treating the Boulder attack as an act of terrorism. The Justice Department said the attack was a "needless act of violence, which follows recent attacks against Jewish Americans". However, local police in Boulder were cautious about describing the incident as a terror attack. Chief Redfearn said authorities received a call at 1:26pm on Sunday, local time, that indicated a man armed with a weapon was setting people on fire. Six people, aged between 67 and 88 years old, were injured. He said the injuries were consistent with reports of individuals being set on fire. They were taken to the Boulder Community Hospital with injuries ranging in severity from "very serious" to "minor", and some were later transported to other hospitals. At least one of them was in a critical condition, authorities said. The Boulder Police Department evacuated the pedestrian mall area. Law enforcement officers with a police dog walked through the streets, securing the area and examining a "vehicle of interest". Brooke Coffman, a 19-year-old at the University of Colorado who witnessed the incident, said she saw four women lying or sitting on the ground with burns on their legs. She said one of them appeared to have been badly burned on most of her body and someone had wrapped her in a flag. Ms Coffman described seeing a man who she presumed to be the attacker standing in the courtyard, shirtless, holding a glass bottle of clear liquid and shouting. The FBI has identified the suspect as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman. He was taken into custody at the scene and transported to hospital, but authorities did not elaborate on the nature of his injuries. Officials did not immediately announce any charges but said they expected to hold him "fully accountable". Chief Redfearn said he did not believe anyone else was involved in the incident. Mark Michalek, the FBI special agent in charge of the Denver field office, said the federal law enforcement agency was investigating the attack. The incident came just weeks after the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington DC. In that case, authorities allege a Chicago-born man opened fire on a group of people leaving an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that fights anti-semitism and supports Israel. FBI director Kash Patel described the latest incident as a "targeted terror attack". His words were echoed by the bureau's deputy director, Dan Bongino, in a post on X. "This act of terror is being investigated as an act of ideologically motivated violence based on the early information, the evidence, and witness accounts," Mr Bongino said. "We will speak clearly on these incidents when the facts warrant it." However, Chief Redfearn called for caution, saying it would be irresponsible for him to speculate on motive so soon after the incident. "We've got dozens and dozens of people here working through this to work out exactly what happened." Colorado Attorney-General Phil Weiser, meanwhile, said the incident appeared to be "a hate crime". "My thoughts are with those injured and impacted by today's attack against a group that meets weekly on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall to call for the release of the hostages in Gaza," Mr Weiser said. "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. We all have the right to peaceably assemble and the freedom to speak our views." Hamas-led militants stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 hostages. More than half the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel has rescued eight and recovered dozens of bodies. Israel's ensuing military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead are civilians or combatants. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced about 90 per cent of its population of roughly 2 million Palestinians, according to the United Nations estimates. ABC/wires
