The suspect arrested over the terror attack in Colorado had planned an attack on a “Zionist group” for over a year, police statements claim.
Ahead of Sunday’s attack he planned to kill everyone taking part in a demonstration in support of the hostages in Gaza with Molotov cocktails, statements add.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45 faces charges including attempted murder in the first degree, the use and attempted use of an incendiary device, along with a hate crime offence, after he was arrested at the scene of the attack that left 12 people injured in Boulder. US envoy accuses major outlets of spreading Hamas lies and fuelling antisemitic violence
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.”
Soliman had posed as a gardener to get close to a group who were holding their weekly demonstration for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza, it has emerged.
Local authorities revealed he had 18 incendiary devices on him, but only threw two into the crowd of around 20 protesters while yelling “Free Palestine.”
Police wrote in an affidavit that he failed to carry out his full plan “because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before.”
He had sprayed gas on himself because he also “planned on dying” after carrying out the attack.
The group called Run For Their Lives was ending their weekly demonstration and video showed a witness shouting, “He’s right there. He’s throwing Molotov cocktails.”
“When he was interviewed about the attack, he said he wanted them all to die, he had no regrets and he would go back and do it again,” Acting U.S. Attorney J. Bishop Grewell for the District of Colorado said during a press conference Monday.
Soliman was living in the U.S. illegally after entering the country in August 2022 on a B2 visa that expired in February 2023, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on the social platform X.
He was born in Egypt, but moved to Colorado Springs three years ago, where he lived with his wife and five kids, according to state court documents.
Soliman previously spent 17 years living in Kuwait.
His lawyer Kathryn Herold declined to comment after the hearing.
Former US President Joe Biden posted on social media condemning the attack.
“Jill and I are praying for the victims of the violent, targeted attack on the Jewish community in Boulder. We must stand united against antisemitic violence and hate,” he wrote.
President Donald Trump has vowed to prosecute the attacker “to the fullest extent of the law.”
