Boulder suspect attack accused of federal crime of hatred, said that he “wanted to kill all Zionist peoples”: court documents

The man suspected of launching Molotov cocktails in an “act of terrorism” during a pro-Israeli demonstration in Boulder, Colorado, injured 12 people, was accused of a crime of federal hatred and state accusations, including 16 heads of attempted murder in the first degree, according to legal documents.

The suspect, Mohamed Soliman, 45, told investigators: “He did research on YouTube how to do Molotov cocktails, bought the ingredients to do it and built them,” said federal court documents.

Soliman took a hidden transport class to learn how to fire a firearm but “had to use Molotov cocktails [for the attack] After being denied the purchase of a firearm, because he is not a legal citizen, “said court documents.

Soliman, who would have disguised himself as a gardener during the attack, reportedly told the police “that he wanted to kill all the Zionist people and wanted them to be all dead,” said documents. “Soliman said he would do it again (would lead an attack).”

He “said it had nothing to do with the Jewish community and was precise in the Zionist group supporting the killings of people on his land (Palestine),” said state documents.

Soliman, a husband and father of five, would have said that he had planned the attack on Sunday afternoon for a year, but waited for his daughter to graduate last Thursday to make it, state and federal documents said.

He said that no one knew his plans and that he expected to die during the attack, according to the documents.

Soliman appeared during his first hearing of the state court practically prison on Monday afternoon, during which the judge kept his surety at $ 10 million.

He recognized that he had received and understood a protective prescription preventing him from contacting the victims.

Soliman must return to court on Thursday for the deposit of state accusations.

He said he had led about 100 miles from his house from Colorado Springs to Boulder on Sunday and picked up gas in a service station on the way, according to documents.

Soliman would have “filled 8 glass containers which he bought from Target with gas, he put them in a black trash can and in order to get as close as possible to the group, he dressed as a gardener”, according to state legal documents.

He would have used a “makeshift launch” and launched an incendiary apparatus in a crowd of pro-Israeli demonstrators in a pedestrian shopping center, according to the FBI. He would have shouted the “free Palestine” during the attack, said the FBI.

A video published on social networks during the attack showed that Soliman holding what seemed to be Molotov cocktails and saying: “How many children killed” and “ending the Zionist”, according to court documents.

Soliman said he “had” removed two from the group only because he was afraid, “according to court documents.

Soliman would have targeted the race for their life market, which aims to raise awareness of the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and calls for their immediate release. Soliman would have told investigators that he had “specifically targeted” this group after learning them in an online search, according to court documents.

Eight people, aged 52 to 88, were hospitalized on Sunday with Burns, and two of these victims stay at the hospital on Monday, police announced.

Four other people who have undergone minor injuries have presented themselves since, bearing the total of the victim, officials announced on Monday.

Sixteen unused Molotov cocktails were within the “scope of the weapon” of the suspect when he was arrested, said Mark Michalek, special agent of FBI Denver, at a press conference, and he congratulated the first stakeholders who jumped to stop the attack.

The unlit Molotov cocktails were “made up of carafe bottles or ball jars containing clear liquid and red rags dragging bottles,” said documents. The police also found a “sprayer of weeds on back, potentially containing a flammable substance. The transparent liquid in the glass bottles and the weeding sprayer were determined as being of the 87 Octane petrol, which was determined to contain xylene.”

Soliman is illegally in the United States, according to the Ministry of Internal Security. He entered the United States in August 2022 on a B2 visa and asked for asylum in September 2022, according to Tricia McLaughlin, deputy secretary of public affairs in the Department of Internal Security.

Its B2 visa – which is generally a tourist visa – expired in February 2023, said McLaughlin.

Soliman obtained a work permit after the expiration of his B2 visa, said a senior official at ABC News. This work permit expired on March 28, it has been in the country illegally since then, the official said.

He was born in Egypt and lived in Kuwait for 17 years, according to the state charge document. He moved to Colorado Springs three years ago.

Soliman has worked as a driver to Uber and his account has since been banned from the platform, said the company.

“We will never tolerate this kind of hatred,” said Prosecutor General Pamela Bondi on Monday. “We refuse to accept a world in which Jewish Americans are targeted for whom they are and what they believe.”

President Donald Trump responded to the attack for the first time on Monday, writing on Truth Social that crimes will be “prosecuted to the full extent of the law”.

“This is yet another example of the reason why we have to keep our borders in security and expel the illegal anti-American radicals from our homeland. My heart goes to the victims of this terrible tragedy, and the great people of Boulder, Colorado!” The president added.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted on Monday: “In the light of yesterday’s horrible attack, all terrorists, family members and terrorist sympathizers here on a visa should know that under the Trump administration, we will find you, reveal your visa and deport you.”

Former President Joe Biden said in a statement on Monday that he and former first lady Jill Biden “pray for the victims of the violent and targeted attack against the Jewish community of Boulder”.

“We have to remain united against violence and anti-Semitic hatred,” he said.