FBI: Boulder Suspect Planned Attack for a Year

A man accused of using a makeshift flamethrower and an incendiary device to attack a group in Boulder, Colorado, that had gathered to bring attention to Israeli hostages in Gaza has been charged with a federal hate crime, according to court documents filed Monday. Eight people were injured in the attack, some with burns.

• An FBI affidavit says the suspect, Mohammed Sabry Soliman, confessed to the attack after being taken into custody Sunday and told police he would do it again, the AP reports. Soliman, 45, told police he planned it for a year and specifically targeted what he described as the "Zionist group," the FBI said. "He stated that he had been planning the attack for a year and was waiting until after his daughter graduated to conduct the attack," the affidavit says.

• Soliman told investigators that he constructed homemade Molotov cocktails after doing research on YouTube and buying the ingredients. He drove to Boulder with the devices in his car and stopped along the way for gas, according to the affidavit. He said in his interview that his goal was to "kill all Zionists," the FBI said, and that he intentionally targeted the group and knew they would be assembled on Sunday afternoon.
• Law enforcement found more than a dozen unlit Molotov cocktails near where Soliman was arrested. Inside his car, law enforcement found papers with the words "Israel," "Palestine," and "USAID," the affidavit says.

• Colorado Springs resident Shameka Pruiett knew Soliman and his family as kindly neighbors with five children—three young kids and two teenagers—who would play with Pruiett's kids in front of their building, and share food and hellos. But she said when she saw Soliman on video in Boulder, shirtless and holding bottles with flames licking up the grass in front of him, it was hard to recognize him. "There had to be something deeply disturbing him, 'cause that is not the guy we see in the neighborhood," she tells the AP.
• An online resume under Soliman's name said he was employed by a Denver-area health care company working in accounting and inventory control, with prior employers listed as companies in Egypt.
• Federal officials say Soliman, who had a pending asylum claim, was in the country illegally. "Yesterday's horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the United States of America," President Trump said in a Truth Social post. He came in through Biden's ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. He must go out under "TRUMP" Policy. Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law