Mother, 2 kids speak out after son in wheelchair aids in Boulder attack aftermath
Rachel Cohen and her family live in Lafayette, but for over a year now, nearly every Sunday, they've gone to Pearl Street for the Run for Their Lives Walk. Rachel believes firmly in standing up for what she believes and teaches her five kids the same; that's why the walk was so important to them.
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She says she never required her kids to go, and only two came with her last Sunday.
'I'm a mom of five, so whoever's ready, we go, and it was my seven-year-old and my 14-year-old that day. My 14-year-old doesn't walk long distances well, so we took the wheelchair, loaded up and went.' She said.
The walk was along its normal route when Rachel says she noticed the attacker due to his strange backpack, but she thought he must have been some sort of maintenance worker. Moments later she saw a wave of fire about 20 feet from her and her children.
'There was a crash and a smell of petrol and fire and I turned because I just knew something was wrong.' She said. 'The worst was an 88-year-old woman. It was the first time she'd walked with us. She was there on her birthday with her husband and the realization that my children could have been murdered, the realization that this happened here is incomprehensible in many ways.'
She's had conversations with her son, Baruch, before about what to do in these situations, specifically after the Israeli Embassy shooting in D.C. She pushed him out of the way and left her daughter with him so she could go assist.
'He went off and went and looked for medical supplies and looked for what he could do not to help, not close to the danger, which is exactly what I would expect and afterwards I was told by people of how well he did calming people down.' She said.
Baruch even spoke with first responders when they got on the scene.
'I gave them a quick rundown of the victims' conditions, how many, where they are, the suspect and then just while they're running because I wasn't going to stop them from where they needed to be,' Baruch said.
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Her husband drove the rest of the family over after the attack to aid and check in on the family, including her son Dov, who was shocked and is still trying to understand.
'I just saw how big it was and I just started crying because I thought, 'how can someone have such hatred for people that he tosses Molotovs at a crowd of people just supporting what they think?' I was so afraid knowing that someone could be so antisemitic,' she said.
Despite the attack, Rachel says her and her family will be there again to walk on Sunday, to continue to stand with the Israeli hostages and show her children resilience.
'I'm not going to let some terrorize me out of doing the right thing, which is to support these people,' Rachel said.
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