Suspect in attack on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall charged with federal hate crime

Lauren Penington, The Denver Post on Jun 2, 2025

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DENVER — The man accused of injuring eight people Sunday on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall with a “makeshift flamethrower” and Molotov cocktails researched and planned the attack for more than a year, according to federal court documents.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, a 45-year-old man whom federal officials said was living in Colorado illegally at the time of the attack, has been charged with a federal hate crime, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation arrest affidavit.

Soliman threw two lit Molotov cocktails at the crowd of Run for Their Lives demonstrators, burning eight people, the affidavit stated. Investigators found another box with at least 14 unlit Molotov cocktails inside nearby.

Run for Their Lives is a national movement calling for the release of Israeli hostages held by the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza. Members of the local Boulder chapter were hosting their weekly walk on Pearl Street when they were attacked by Soliman outside the courthouse.

The walk was scheduled for 1 p.m. Soliman told federal officials he arrived at 12:55 p.m. and waited for them to arrive.

“No American should experience violence motivated by hatred based on their faith or national origin, and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice will act swiftly and decisively to bring the perpetrators of such crimes to justice,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement. “There can be zero tolerance for such acts in our great nation.”

The Molotov cocktails were made with bottles and jars, contained clear liquid and had red rags hanging out, according to the document. A backpack weed sprayer was also discovered near the box of explosives.

Federal officials said the jars and weed sprayer were all filled with gasoline.

Soliman told investigators that he planned the attack for more than a year and specifically targeted the Run for Their Lives chapter, which he called a “Zionist group,” federal officials said.

Soliman confessed to the attack after being taken into custody Sunday and told the police he would do it again, according to the FBI arrest affidavit. He told law enforcement “that he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,” the affidavit stated.

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