By Chase Woodruff, Colorado Newsline
The man suspected of attacking a group of demonstrators with incendiary devices in Boulder on Sunday, leaving multiple people hospitalized with severe injuries, faces state and federal charges for attempted murder and a hate crime, law enforcement officials announced.
Officials said the total number of victims in the attack had risen to 12, at least some of whom were participants in the Boulder branch of Run For Their Lives, which organizes events calling for the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. They suffered burns from Molotov cocktails and what FBI officials described as a “makeshift flamethrower.”
At least two victims remained hospitalized as of Monday afternoon, Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said.
The suspect, 45-year-old Mohammed Sabry Soliman, was arrested by Boulder police and later told investigators that he targeted what he called a “Zionist group” after learning about it through an online search, according to an FBI affidavit filed Monday. Officials previously reported that Soliman, a Colorado Springs resident, was heard to shout “Free Palestine” during the attack.
“He stated that he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,” the FBI wrote of the suspect’s interview after his arrest. “He stated that he had been planning the attack for a year.”
A criminal complaint filed in federal court charges Soliman with one count of “a hate crime offense involving the actual or perceived race, religion, or national origin.”
“No American should experience violence motivated by hatred based on their faith or national origin, and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice will act swiftly and decisively to bring the perpetrators of such crimes to justice,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement. “There can be zero tolerance for such acts in our great nation.”
At a press conference later Monday, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said his office had charged the suspect with 16 counts of attempted murder in the first degree, two counts of the use of an incendiary device, and 16 counts of attempted use of an incendiary device. A judge has set a $10 million cash bond on the state charges. Soliman made a brief appearance in Boulder County court on Monday afternoon, and is scheduled to return for a formal filing of charges on Thursday.
“Our office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office will be working closely together and in coordination with one another to ensure that the defendant is held fully accountable,” Dougherty said.
Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for public affairs, said Monday that Soliman was in the U.S. unlawfully, having entered the country in August 2022 on a tourist visa that expired in February 2023. An Egyptian national, he filed an asylum claim in September 2022, McLaughlin said.
J. Bishop Grewell, the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, said additional federal charges could be forthcoming. In a press release Monday, the Department of Justice called the incident an “anti-Semitic terrorist attack.”
“We’ve moved to charge quickly, to send the message to the community that no acts of anti-Semitism are going to be tolerated,” Grewell told reporters. “Just because there’s only one charge that has been made so far doesn’t mean that we’re not considering other charges that could come in the future.”
FBI agents worked through the night to gather evidence at the scene and execute a search warrant at the suspect’s Colorado Springs residence, said Mark D. Michalek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Denver field office. The suspect was not previously known to the FBI’s local Joint Terrorism Task Force, Michalek said.
“While at this time it appears the perpetrator acted alone, we do continue to investigate all possibilities and pursue all investigative leads,” he added.
All evacuations and closures in downtown Boulder had been lifted as of early Monday morning, Redfearn said.
“This morning, I walked down Pearl Street with members of my team. I interacted with a lot of business owners community out there, and the way I felt leaving there was I was heartened,” said Redfearn. “I was heartened by the resilience of our community. … Once again, as a community, we’re going to recover after coming together.”
