The Department of Justice formally filed one federal hate crime charge Friday against a man suspected of injuring 15 people in a firebombing attack on the Pearl Street Mall Sunday.
“This vile anti-Semitic violence comes just weeks after the horrific murder of two young Jewish Americans in Washington D.C.,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi in a statement. “We will never tolerate this kind of hatred. We refuse to accept a world in which Jewish Americans are targeted for who they are and what they believe.”
In the original federal complaint filed June 1, an agent categorized the attack as a hate crime because the suspect appeared to target the group based on their “race, religion or national origin” by “throwing Molotov cocktails into a pro-Israel crowd while yelling ‘Free Palestine’”.
Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman45, will be represented by public defenders David Kraut and Jennifer Beck as the case moves through federal court. He was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Friday afternoon and will appear June 18 for his federal preliminary hearing.
Police say the suspect used a makeshift flamethrower and threw incendiary devices at people participating in a weekly Run for Their Lives demonstration on the Pearl Street Mall. Multiple people caught on fire, 15 were injured, and three remain hospitalized, authorities say.
According to an arrest affidavit, the suspect told police he specifically searched for what he considered to be “Zionist” groups and planned for a year to target the Boulder organization, which hosts a weekly walk calling attention to the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Those injured in Sunday’s attack range in age from 25 to 88. Eight are female, and seven are male. One dog was also injured.
The federal hate crime charge carries a penalty of 10 years behind bars and a $250K fine. Should the federal judge find there was an intent to kill in the attack, the accused could face a life sentence.
His federal charges are in addition to 118 state chargeswhich include attempted first-degree murder with intent and extreme indifference, assault, use of an incendiary device, crimes of violence, animal cruelty, and more. If convicted, each count of attempted murder carries as many as 48 years in prison, he’s facing 28 of them. The state’s court process begins after the federal preliminary hearing on July 15 in district court.
