Several wounded in flamethrower, firebomb attack on Colorado rally for Israeli hostages
FBI calls incident a ‘targeted terror attack’; footage shows suspect, an Egyptian national, screaming ‘End Zionists’ at scene; PM blames ‘blood libels’ against Israel, Jews
At least eight people were wounded Sunday in Boulder, Colorado — including one person in critical condition — when activists rallying for the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza were attacked by a man shouting “end Zionists,” who fired a makeshift flamethrower and threw firebombs at them.
The incident, which the FBI said it was investigating as an act of terrorism, marked the second major attack against a Jewish gathering in the US in recent weeks after two Israeli embassy staffers were shot and killed outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC on May 21.
Four women and four men between 52 and 88 years old were transported to hospitals, Boulder police said. Authorities had earlier put the count of the injured at six and said at least one of them was in a critical condition.
Authorities later raised the number of injured to 12 after four more people who had been hurt came forward.
The suspect, who was arrested at the scene, was identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, an Egyptian national and a resident of Colorado’s El Paso County, around a two-hour drive from Boulder.
Soliman was booked into the Boulder County jail on Sunday, shortly before midnight, according to a booking report from the local sheriff’s office.
The charges listed for Soliman included two murder charges, but the charges are preliminary, have not been filed, and are subject to change. There were no confirmed deaths in the attack, though an 88-year-old woman and her husband were said to be seriously hurt.
Some of the other preliminary charges included using explosive or incendiary devices during a felony, assault with a weapon, and crimes against at-risk elderly.
Witnesses told investigators that Soliman attacked the demonstrators with a “makeshift flamethrower” and threw an incendiary device, FBI Special Agent Mark Michalek said at a press conference. Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn said the suspect hurled Molotov cocktails at the demonstrators.
“It is clear that this is a targeted act of violence and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism,” Michalek said.
A joint statement from Boulder Jewish community groups said that an incendiary device had been thrown at participants in a hostage rally by a group called Run for Their Lives.
Chapters of the group hold weekly events around the US to raise awareness about the hostages. The attack came on the eve of the Jewish festival of Shavuot.
End Zionists
In footage said to be from the scene of the attack, a shirtless man screamed “End Zionists” while holding what appear to be Molotov cocktails. The man also shouted, “Palestine is free.”
Video from the scene shows a witness shouting, “He’s right there. He’s throwing Molotov cocktails,” as a police officer with his gun drawn advanced on a bare-chested suspect who was holding containers in each hand.
Alex Osante of San Diego said he was having lunch on a restaurant patio across the pedestrian mall when he heard the crash of a bottle breaking on the ground, a “boom” sound followed by people yelling and screaming.
In video of the scene captured by Osante, people could be seen pouring water on a woman lying on the ground, who Osante said had caught on fire during the attack.
After the initial attack, Osante said the suspect went behind some bushes and then re-emerged and threw a Molotov cocktail, but apparently accidentally caught himself on fire as he threw it. The man then took off his shirt and what appeared to be a bulletproof vest before the police arrived. The man dropped to the ground and was arrested without any apparent resistance.
Lynn Segal, 72, was among about 20 people who gathered Sunday. They had finished their march in front of the courthouse when a “rope of fire” shot in front of her and then “two big flares.”
The suspect is heard here saying twice "End Zionists" pic.twitter.com/ATNlXkKyM0
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) June 1, 2025
Redfearn said at an earlier press conference that at 1:26 p.m. local time, police received calls that there was a “man with a weapon” near the county courthouse on 13th and Pearl St. and that “people were being set on fire.”
When police arrived at the scene shortly thereafter, they encountered “multiple victims” with injuries “consistent with burns,” Redfearn said.
The victims were evacuated to a nearby Boulder Community Health medical center for treatment, Redfearn said, adding that a number of them apparently suffered “life-threatening” injuries.
Shortly after arriving on the scene, a suspect was pointed out to officers who managed to apprehend him, Redfearn said.
Redfearn confirmed that a pro-Israel peaceful demonstration was taking place in the area, as it frequently does.
Later Sunday night, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said the suspect is “an illegal alien.”
“He was granted a tourist visa by the Biden administration and then he illegally overstayed that visa. In response, the Biden administration gave him a work permit,” Miller said of Soliman.
Miller, a leading anti-immigration advocate in the administration, didn’t specify whether Soliman’s work permit had expired.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis condemned the attack as a “vicious act of terrorism.”
“As the American Jewish community continues to reel from the horrific antisemitic murders in Washington DC, it is unfathomable that the Jewish community is facing another terror attack here in Boulder,” tweeted Polis, who is Jewish.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “We’re united in prayer for the victims of a targeted terror attack this afternoon in Boulder. Terror has no place in our great country.”
NEW: Colorado police respond to an attack at Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. Witnesses say the suspect targeted people walking to honor Israeli hostages
Multiple people were injured pic.twitter.com/cDfRTVSp54
— Unlimited L's (@unlimited_ls) June 1, 2025
‘A direct result of blood libels’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the “vicious terror attack” in Colorado, in a relatively rare statement on a Jewish holiday.
“This attack was aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews,” he said in a statement published on X.
“I trust the United States authorities to prosecute the cold-blooded perpetrator to the fullest extent of the law and do everything possible to prevent future attacks against innocent civilians,” Netanyahu says.
“The antisemitic attacks around the world are a direct result of blood libels against the Jewish state and people, and this must be stopped,” he said, echoing an earlier statement by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who blamed the attack on “pure antisemitism fueled by the blood libels spread in the media.”
The New York Police Department said it was stepping up its protection of religious sites in the city for the Shavuot holiday with patrols and heavy weapons teams.
The incident in Boulder took place less than two weeks after an attacker gunned down two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC. The alleged shooter shouted “Free Palestine” and “I did it for Gaza” after the killings, according to authorities.
After that attack, Jewish security officials warned that the murders could inspire copycat attacks against other Israeli or Jewish targets in the US.
The attacks come after a series of thwarted terror attempts against Jewish and Israeli targets around the US in the past year.
Agencies contributed to this report
The Times of Israel Community.