Suspect in Colorado fire attack planned for a year, FBI says

A man accused of having launched Molotov cocktails on demonstrators attending a walk for Israeli hostages in Colorado planned the attack on Sunday, the investigators.

Mohammed Sabry Soliman, 45, who is accused of a crime of federal hatred as well as accusations of state of attempted murder, assault and use of an explosive apparatus, made a brief appearance in court on Monday.

The officials claim that the Egyptian national has targeted a group of pro-Israeli demonstrators in an outside shopping center in Boulder and shouted “free Palestine” while he launched incendiary devices, injuring eight.

At least 16 unlit Molotov cocktails were found nearby. Investigators say he targeted the group after finding them online.

This is the last attack on members of the American Jewish community.

The weekly demonstration was organized by Run for their lives, which raises awareness of Israeli hostages still organized in Gaza.

According to officials, Mr. Soliman launched two incendiary devices in the rally at the Pearl Street Mall, eight of the victims suffering from burns.

Twelve people, including four men and four women aged 52 to 88, were taken to hospital, with injuries ranging from minor to Grave.

Officials previously said there were eight victims, but four others on Monday injured.

The eldest of the victims is a survivor of the Holocaust, the Rabbi Israel Wilhelm, the director of Chabad at the University of Colorado Boulder, told the American partner of the BBC CBS News.

The attack occurred at the start of Shavuot’s Jewish party.

The suspect appeared before the court on Monday via a video flow from Boulder County prison for less than five minutes, standing and carrying an orange combination.

He answered “yes” to certain procedural questions of the judge, but otherwise did not speak. The court provided an official deposit date on the accusations this Thursday.

The officials said on Monday that they thought he had acted alone.

In an interview after his arrest, Mr. Soliman told the police that he had planned the attack for a year, to take place after obtaining his daughter’s secondary school diploma, according to an affidavit of arrest warrant against the FBI.

He told the police that he wanted to “kill all the Zionists” and realize the attack again, said court documents.

In addition to unlit Molotov cocktails, a weeding sprayer containing Octane Escane was found nearby.

Mr. Soliman cleared as a gardener with an orange vest to get as close as possible to the group of people, according to the police.

Mr. Soliman said he had watched YouTube videos on how to make Molotov cocktails, according to the Affidavit.

Investigators say he told them that he had learned to shoot a firearm in the hope of obtaining a hidden transport permit, but ended up using Molotov cocktails because his immigration status prevented him from accessing firearms.

Mr. Soliman led from his home to Colorado Springs in Boulder, arriving five minutes before their meeting and while waiting for the group, according to court documents. He would have said that he had bought gas on his way to the attack.

According to the FBI, throughout the interview, Mr. Soliman said he hated the Zionists and targeted them because they have to stop taking control of “our land”, which, according to him, was a reference to the Palestinian territories.

Mr. Soliman would have told officials that he had left his iPhone hidden in an office drawer with messages to his family, his wife and five children. Later, his wife brought the iPhone to officials, according to court documents.

The law enforcement officials said on Monday that there was no previous indication that the defendant was a threat.

“We were fully intended to hold Mr. Soliman responsible for his actions, and these accusations are the first step,” an American lawyer said on Monday for the District of Colorado J Bishop Grewell at a press conference.

Mr. Soliman moved to Colorado Springs three years ago and previously spent 17 years living in Kuwait.

In 2022, Mr. Soliman arrived in California on a non-immigrant visa that expired in February 2023, several sources told CBS News.

Internal security officials said he had asked for asylum a month after his arrival, but had not provided details on the outcome of this immigration case or if it was resolved.

The deputy chief of staff of President Donald Trump for politics, Stephen Miller, said on X that Mr. Soliman had received a work permit by the Biden administration after exceeding his visa.

“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,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on X.

Mr. Soliman is working as a food delivery driver for Uber since 2023, a company spokesman told CBS.

According to the company, when he started working for them, he satisfied all the Uber requirements, in particular by passing a verification of the criminal history and in terms of driving, providing a photo identity document and holding a valid social security number.

Trump declared in an article on social networks that attacks like that which Mr. Soliman would have led would not be tolerated.

“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,” he said.

The Jewish community in the United States has faced a series of attacks by assarantors citing the War of Israel-Gaza.

Last month, two Embassy aid of Israel was shot dead outside the Jewish museum in the capital of Washington. Witnesses said the attacker had shouted “free Palestine”.

In April, a man set fire to the residence of the Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish. The suspect said the criminal fire was reprisals from Israeli attacks on the Palestinians.