Security tightened at Jewish center, Boulder on edge after fiery attack

USA Today

02-06-2025

Security tightened at Jewish center, Boulder on edge after fiery attack
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FBI investigating 'attack at Colorado mall
The FBI is investigating a report of a "targeted attack" in a Boulder, Colorado mall.
BOULDER, Colo. − A pedestrian mall was quiet and some police barricades were being removed Monday, but many in the community remained on edge after a "targeted" terror attack by a man with a makeshift flamethrower and firebombs set eight people aflame and fueled chaos on the streets.
The attack Sunday afternoon came as a group of demonstrators called for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. One of the burn victims is a Holocaust survivor, a local rabbi said.
The suspect, identified by authorities as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, was taken into custody at the scene and was scheduled to appear in court Monday.
The victims, ages 52 to 88, suffered injuries ranging from serious to minor, Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said Sunday. Police, in a brief statement Monday, said no victims had died overnight.
The Boulder attack occurred at a "regularly scheduled, weekly, peaceful event," FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek said. Anyone with videos, social media posts or digital recordings was asked to upload them at www.fbi.gov/boulderattack.
'We stand in full solidarity with those targeted,' Michalek said. 'We will continue to ensure that justice is pursued swiftly, support is provided to victims and their communities, and preventative action is taken to protect everyone's safety.'
8 injured in Boulder: Group had gathered to support Israeli hostages
Four miles from the scene of the attack, security was extra tight at the sprawling Boulder Jewish Community Center campus, where outdoor summer camp programs were being held under the watch of both police and armed private security. The JCC serves as a central hub for many area Jewish residents, and security guards are a regular presence.Staff at the JCC said they are still discussing how to best honor the victims of the attack and declined to comment publicly.
"When events like this enter our own community, we are shaken. Our hope is that we come together for one another," center officials said in a social media post. "Strength to you all."
The attack fell on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot and came less than two weeks after two Israeli Embassy aides were fatally shot outside a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C. Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and his girlfriend Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, were shot after a Young Diplomats reception hosted by the American Jewish Committee.
The suspect in that attack, Elias Rodriguez, 31, chanted "Free Palestine, free Palestine," after being taken into custody by event security. He is charged with a long list of crimes including federal and local murder charges and the murder of foreign officials. The May 21 shooting is being investigated as a hate and terrorism crime.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday expressed solidarity with the victims who were attacked "simply because they were Jews. " He said he was confident U.S. authorities would prosecute "the cold blood perpetrator to the fullest extent of the law."
"The antisemitic attacks around the world are a direct result of blood libels against the Jewish state and people, and this must be stopped," Netanyahu said in a statement.
Soliman, of El Paso County, Colorado, was taken into custody after witnesses pointed him out, authorities said. He was booked on multiple preliminary charges including first-degree murder and using explosives or an incendiary device while committing a felony.
Police said Soliman was injured in the incident and taken to a hospital to be medically evaluated before he was booked in the Boulder County jail. Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff, said Soliman overstayed a tourist visa issued in 2022.
"In response, the Biden administration gave him a work permit," Miller said in a social media post. "Immigration security is national security. No more hostile migration. Keep them out and send them back."
Multiple outlets said Soliman is an Egyptian national, including CBS and Fox News, citing unnamed sources.
FBI agents searched Soliman's home in El Paso County hours after the attack, the agency's field office in Denver said on X. Read more here.
Soliman was in the United States on a B-2 tourism visa, according to Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. A B-2 visa is generally used for tourism and is issued by the State Department. In general, the visas are valid for six months and can be used for vacations, visiting relatives, medical treatment or participation in music, sports or events.
The State Department issues millions of B-1 and B-2 visas each year. B-1 visas are similar to B-2 and allow for nonimmigrants to visit for six months for conferences and business reasons.
Soliman entered the United States in August 2022 and his visa expired in February 2023. In addition, McLaughlin wrote on X that Soliman applied for asylum in 2022. That claim was likely still pending. As of March, the immigration court backlog was around 3.6 million cases, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
− Nick Penzenstadler
Rabbi Israel Wilhelm, the Chabad director at the University of Colorado Boulder, told CBS Colorado the 88-year-old victim is a Holocaust refugee who fled Europe. Wilhelm described the woman as a "very loving person."
Chany Scheiner, a friend of the victim, told KUSA-TV the woman is an 'amazing."
"She has spoken at our synagogues as well as other synagogues and schools just about her background and the Holocaust and from her own perspective,' Scheiner said. 'Her life wasn't easy, but she is just a bright light. And anybody who is her friend is a friend for life.'
The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the U.S. and around the world over Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The war has dragged on for 20 months, since the Hamas attack on Israeli border communites that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw more than 250 others dragged across the border into Gaza as hostages.
The conflict has fueled antisemitic hate crime in the U.S. Reports of incidents of antisemitism rose for a second year in a row in 2024, according to an annual report released by the Anti-Defamation League in April.
The controvery also has prompted supporters of Israel, including President Donald Trump, to brand peaceful, pro-Palestinian protests as antisemitic.
Who is Mohamed Soliman? FBI raids home of suspect in Colorado terror attack
Earlier Sunday, Boulder dispatch received several calls to the county courthouse at around 1:26 p.m. local time, Redfearn said. Initial reports indicated that there was a man with a weapon, and people were being set on fire at the scene.
Responding officers encountered multiple victims who were injured with wounds consistent with burns and other injuries, Redfearn said.
Contributing: Thao Nguyen, Susan Miller and Michael Collins, USA TODAY; Reuters