Multiple people were injured after a man shouting \u201cfree Palestine\u201d tossed Molotov cocktails at a gathering in support of Israeli hostages in Colorado, authorities said.<\/p>\n
Police said eight people \u2013 aged 52 to 88 \u2013 were injured in the attack at the Pearl Street Mall, a popular outdoor space in Boulder, about 30 miles (48km) from Denver.<\/p>\n
The FBI called it a suspected terror attack and said the suspect used a makeshift flamethrower, Molotov cocktails and other incendiary devices.<\/p>\n
Footage of the attack shows the suspect, who was shirtless, screaming at the group and had what appears to be Molotov cocktails in each hand when he was arrested.<\/p>\n
The attack unfolded during a weekly scheduled demonstration put on by Run for Their Lives, a pro-Israeli group that holds walks in the outdoor pedestrian mall in solidarity with Israeli hostages in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Police got calls around 13:26 local time (20:26 BST) about a man with a weapon and people being set on fire, Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said at a news conference.<\/p>\n
Officers who responded found multiple people injured, including those with burns.<\/p>\n
Witnesses told authorities that the suspect used a \u201cmakeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device into the crowd,\u201d said Mark Michalek, who heads the FBI\u2019s Denver office.<\/p>\n
Redfearn added those devices included Molotov cocktails being tossed at the crowd.<\/p>\n
Michalek identified the suspect as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45.<\/p>\n
Soliman is an Egyptian national, government officials told the BBC\u2019s US partner CBS News.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Soliman arrived in California on a non-immigrant visa that expired in February 2023, multiple sources have told CBS News. He had been living in Colorado Springs.<\/p>\n
Footage that appeared to be from the attack showed a chaotic scene: smoke filling the air, people running in multiple directions, spots of grass on fire and people injured on the ground.<\/p>\n
In images and videos posted online, but not yet verified by the BBC, a man who appears to be the suspect is seen without a shirt and holding bottles with liquid with a piece of red cloth inside. He can be heard yelling at the crowd and appears to be advancing on them as some rush to flee.<\/p>\n
As he screams, one woman is on the ground and appears injured. People surround her and one man pours water on her body.<\/p>\n
Footage shows police rushing to the scene and arresting the suspect. Police say he was taken to the hospital with injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is clear that this is a targeted act of violence and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism,\u201d Mr Michalek said. \u201cSadly, attacks like this are becoming too common across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The attack is the second high-profile act of violence in the US in the last two weeks related to the conflict in Gaza.<\/p>\n
A man who shouted \u201cfree Palestine\u201d fatally shot two Israeli embassy employees outside a Jewish museum in Washington DC on 22 May. The incident happened at a networking event organised by a Jewish organisation.<\/p>\n
Colorado\u2019s Attorney General Phil Weiser said that from what officials know the attack \u201cappears to be hate crime given the group that was targeted\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople may have differing views about world events and the Israeli-Hamas conflict, but violence is never the answer to settling differences,\u201d Weiser said in a statement on Sunday. \u201cHate has no place in Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s foreign minister, Gideon Sa\u2019ar, said he was \u201cshocked\u201d by the incident and called the attack \u201cpure antisemitism\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cShocked by the terrible antisemitic terror attack targeting Jews in Boulder, Colorado,\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cThis is pure antisemitism, fuelled by the blood libels spread in the media.\u201d<\/p>\n
Danny Danon, Israel\u2019s ambassador to the UN, similarly was saddened over the attack, calling it \u201cterrorism\u201d and asking for \u201cconcrete action\u201d in response.<\/p>\n
In a post on X, the ambassador said that Jewish protesters were brutally attacked\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cTerrorism against Jews does not stop at the Gaza border \u2013 it is already burning the streets of America,\u201d he said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Multiple people were injured after a man shouting \u201cfree Palestine\u201d tossed Molotov cocktails at a gathering in support of Israeli hostages in Colorado, authorities said. Police said eight people \u2013 aged 52 to 88 \u2013 were injured in the attack at the Pearl Street Mall, a popular outdoor space in Boulder, about 30 miles (48km) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}