What we know about the suspect and victims in the Boulder, Colorado, attack

BOULDER, Colo. -- Eight radical calling for the merchandise of Israeli hostages successful Gaza were injured astatine an outdoor promenade successful Boulder, Colorado, by a antheral who constabulary accidental utilized a makeshift flamethrower and hurled an incendiary instrumentality into a crowd. The FBI instantly described the unit arsenic a “targeted panic attack.”

The suspect, identified by the FBI arsenic 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, yelled “Free Palestine” during the Sunday onslaught connected the radical of demonstrators, said Mark Michalek, the peculiar cause successful complaint of the FBI’s Denver tract office.

Soliman was arrested and taken to the infirmary for treatment, but authorities didn’t elaborate connected his injuries.

Here is what we cognize astir the attack:

Authorities said the attacker targeted demonstrators with a unpaid radical called Run for Their Lives, which organizes tally and locomotion events to telephone for the contiguous merchandise of the Israeli hostages who stay successful Gaza since they were captured by militants during the incursion into confederate Israel that started the Israel-Hamas war successful 2023.

The radical had gathered astatine the Pearl Street pedestrian mall, a four-block country successful downtown Boulder frequented by tourists and students.

The Israel-Hamas warfare has inflamed planetary tensions and contributed to a spike successful antisemitic unit successful the United States. A week earlier, 2 Israeli Embassy staffers were changeable to decease successful Washington by a antheral who yelled “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza” arsenic helium was being led distant by police.

Police successful Boulder evacuated aggregate blocks of the pedestrian mall. The country soon aft the onslaught was tense, arsenic instrumentality enforcement agents with a constabulary canine walked done the streets looking for threats and instructed the nationalist to enactment clear.

The unit occurred 4 years aft 10 radical were killed a shooting rampage astatine a market store successful Boulder, astir 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Denver. The gunman was sentenced to beingness successful situation for execution aft a assemblage rejected his effort to debar situation clip by pleading not blameworthy by crushed of insanity.

The radical injured successful the Pearl Street onslaught scope successful property from 52 to 88.

Photos from the country showed a pistillate lying connected the crushed successful the fetal presumption with her hairsbreadth soaked, and a antheral helping her and getting h2o from idiosyncratic with a h2o jug.

The injuries authorities recovered were accordant with reports of radical being acceptable connected fire, Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn said, adding that injuries ranged from superior to minor.

Redfearn told reporters Sunday evening that it was excessively aboriginal to sermon a motive but that witnesses were being interviewed.

“It would beryllium irresponsible for maine to speculate connected motive this aboriginal on,” helium said.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, was arrested astatine the scene. No charges were instantly announced, but officials said they expect to clasp him “fully accountable.”

Video from the country showed him shirtless and wearing jeans and holding 2 wide bottles with a transparent liquid successful them portion shouting astatine onlookers.

Another video shows a witnesser shouting, “He’s close there. He’s throwing Molotov cocktails,” arsenic a constabulary serviceman with his weapon drawn precocious connected the suspect.

FBI leaders successful Washington said they were treating the Boulder onslaught arsenic an enactment of terrorism, and the Justice Department — which leads investigations into acts of unit driven by religious, radical oregon taste motivations — decried the onslaught arsenic a “needless enactment of violence, which follows caller attacks against Jewish Americans.”

“This enactment of panic is being investigated arsenic an enactment of ideologically motivated unit based connected the aboriginal information, the evidence, and witnesser accounts. We volition talk intelligibly connected these incidents erstwhile the facts warrant it,” FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said successful a station connected X.