The number of victims has risen from eight to 12 in a terrorist firebombing attack on a pro-Israel demonstration by the Run for Their Lives organization on Sunday afternoon in Boulder, Colorado.
Originally reported to be eight people wounded in the attack – including one with critical injuries – the figure now stands at 12 victims.
Two of the victims were taken by helicopter to the burn unit at the UC Health Center. Eight of the victims, four men and four women ages 52 to 88, were taken to area hospitals.
One of those who were hurt had fled the Holocaust during World War II, Chabad emissary Rabbi Israel Wilhelm told KCNC. Another victim is a professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder, where Wilhelm runs a Chabad center.
Police in New York and New Jersey boosted security at religious sites in response; there was an intensified presence of NYPD officers at all Jewish sites in New York City ahead of the Shavuot holiday that began just a few hours later.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, told police he spent a year searching for a “Zionist group” to target – and said he would do it again, the US Department of Justice said in its affidavit.
Soliman, a resident of Colorado Springs, stayed in the US after his visa expired in February 2023. Although he obtained a “work authorization” under the Biden Administration, that document expired this past March.
The suspect told police he hoped to “kill all Zionist people” and taught himself to make firebombs using YouTube videos.
According to the DOJ affidavit, he told police he had waited until after his daughter graduated high school before carrying out the attack.
Witnesses told police Soliman held a lighter in front of a garden sprayer loaded with gasoline, which he then aimed at the marchers, throwing two of the incendiary devices .
Sixteen more Molotov cocktails (firebombs) were later found scattered around the scene of the attack, FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek told reporters Monday.
Soliman is charged with a federal hate crime and 16 counts of first-degree attempted murder, along with 16 counts of attempted use of an incendiary device and two counts of use of an incendiary device.
The suspect faces a maximum of 384 years in prison if convicted on state charges. He is being held on $10 million bond at the Boulder County Jail.
