4 additional victims identified in Boulder attack, bringing number of injured to 12

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Four additional victims have been identified in the Boulder attack in which a man is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails into a group that had gathered to bring attention to Israeli hostages in Gaza, authorities said Monday, bringing the number of injured to 12.

The man planned the attack for more than a year and specifically targeted what he described as a “Zionist group,” authorities said in court papers charging him with a federal hate crime.

Witnesses said the suspect, identified by Boulder police as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, yelled “Free Palestine” and used a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary devices. The suspect’s first name also was spelled Mohammed in some court documents.

Federal and state prosecutors filed separate criminal cases against Soliman, charging him with a hate crime and attempted murder, respectively. He faces additional state charges related to the incendiary devices, and more charges are possible in federal court, where the Justice Department will seek a grand jury indictment that may include amended allegations.

An FBI affidavit says Soliman confessed to the attack after being taken into custody Sunday and told the police he was driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people,” a reference to the movement to establish and protect a Jewish state in Israel.

“He said he had to do it, he should do it, and he would not forgive himself if he did not do it,” police wrote. “Mohamed described his hopes for everyone in the Zionist group to die.”

Federal court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could speak on Soliman’s behalf, and no one answered the door at a Colorado Springs townhouse where public records show he lived.

The burst of violence at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall in downtown Boulder unfolded against the backdrop of a war between Israel and Hamas that continues to inflame global tensions and has contributed to a spike in antisemitic violence in the United States. The attack happened on the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot and barely a week after a man who also yelled “Free Palestine” was charged with fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington.