The suspect in the Colorado attack told investigators he planned it for a year and said he wanted to “kill all Zionist people”, it is claimed.
Mohamed Soliman is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails and using a makeshift flamethrower on a group of people at a rally in support of Israeli hostages – with the FBI describing the incident as a targeted “act of terrorism”.
The 45-year-old, from El Paso County, Colorado, yelled “Free Palestine” during the attack, it is alleged.
Soliman has been charged with the federal crime of causing bodily injury because of actual or perceived race, colour, religion, or national origin. Authorities said they would announce further charges later on Monday.
Four women and four men, aged between 52 and 88, were injured and taken to hospitals. One victim is in a critical condition and others were seriously hurt, authorities said.
In a federal criminal complaint, investigators said Soliman confessed to the attack and told them that he had planned it for a year.
The alleged attacker said he researched on YouTube how to make Molotov cocktails – an improvised bomb made from a bottle filled with petrol and stuffed with a piece of cloth to use as a fuse, it was claimed.
He allegedly made them before driving to Boulder, Colorado, to carry out the attack on the weekly demonstration, where people were calling for release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
Soliman told investigators he “wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead”, and “he would do it (conduct an attack) again”, according to the criminal complaint.
The suspect said he had been planning the attack for a year, and was waiting until after his daughter graduated to carry it out, it was alleged.
Unlit Molotov cocktails found near scene
According to the federal complaint, officers found a black plastic container with a yellow top near where Soliman was arrested, containing “at least 14 unlit Molotov cocktails”.
Investigators said the projectiles were comprised of “glass wine carafe bottles or Ball jars,” and that near the container “was a backpack weed sprayer, potentially containing a flammable substance”.
It was later determined the liquid in both the bottles and weed sprayer was the flammable liquid xylene, the complaint said.
Mark Michalek, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Denver field office, described the sprayer as a “makeshift flamethrower”.
Trump condemns ‘horrific’ attack
Law enforcement officials told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News that Soliman is an Egyptian national who seemingly acted alone. They said he has no previous significant contact with law enforcement.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, said Soliman was in the US “illegally”.
She posted on X: “He entered the country in August 2022 on a B2 visa that expired on February 2023. He filed for asylum in September 2022.”
US President Donald Trump said the “horrific” attack in Boulder “will not be tolerated in the United States of America”.
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Police chief Steve Redfearn said the attack happened at around 1.26pm local time on Sunday and initial reports were that “people were being set on fire”.
“When we arrived we encountered multiple victims that were injured, with injuries consistent with burns,” Mr Redfearn said.
The attack happened as a “group of pro-Israel people” were peacefully demonstrating, police said.
The walk is held regularly by a volunteer group called Run For Their Lives, which aims to raise awareness of the hostages who remain in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was praying for the full recovery of the people wounded in the “vicious terror attack” in Colorado.
“This attack was aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews,” he said.
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US Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, a prominent Jewish Democrat, said the attack was “horrifying” and “this cannot continue”, adding: “We must stand up to antisemitism.”
The attack follows the arrest of a Chicago-born man in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington DC two weeks ago.
