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Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Boulder attack suspect pleads not guilty to federal hate crime charges
The man accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a group of Colorado marchers advocating for the release of hostages being held in Gaza pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges on Friday. Mohamed Soliman, 45, appeared in federal court in Denver for his arraignment after being indicted this week on a dozen federal charges in connection with the June 1 attack. He had previously been charged by complaint with a federal hate crime offense. MORE: Suspect in Boulder attack charged with 118 counts, including attempted murder, assault charges Prosecutors say Soliman ignited and threw two Molotov cocktails at the Run for Their Lives group during their Boulder walk, at one point shouting, "Free Palestine!" During an interview with law enforcement, Soliman said he learned of the Run for Their Lives walk after searching for "Zionist" events online, according to the 12-count indictment. A handwritten document recovered from his vehicle stated, "Zionism is our enemies untill [sic] Jerusalem is liberated and they are expelled from our land" and described Israel as a 'cancer entity," according to the indictment. He remains in federal custody. MORE: Boulder attack latest: Judge blocks deportation of suspect's family Soliman also faces 118 state charges in connection with the attack, which left over a dozen people, including a Holocaust survivor, injured. The slew of charges includes 28 counts of attempted murder, along with assault and explosives charges. He is next scheduled to appear in court in the state case on July 15.
a day ago
Boulder attack suspect pleads not guilty to federal hate crime charges
The man accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a group of Colorado marchers advocating for the release of hostages being held in Gaza pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges on Friday. Mohamed Soliman, 45, appeared in federal court in Denver for his arraignment after being indicted this week on a dozen federal charges in connection with the June 1 attack. He had previously been charged by complaint with a federal hate crime offense. Prosecutors say Soliman ignited and threw two Molotov cocktails at the Run for Their Lives group during their Boulder walk, at one point shouting, "Free Palestine!" During an interview with law enforcement, Soliman said he learned of the Run for Their Lives walk after searching for "Zionist" events online, according to the 12-count indictment. A handwritten document recovered from his vehicle stated, "Zionism is our enemies untill [sic] Jerusalem is liberated and they are expelled from our land" and described Israel as a 'cancer entity," according to the indictment. He remains in federal custody. Soliman also faces 118 state charges in connection with the attack, which left over a dozen people, including a Holocaust survivor, injured. The slew of charges includes 28 counts of attempted murder, along with assault and explosives charges. He is next scheduled to appear in court in the state case on July 15.
USA Today
3 days ago
- USA Today
Boulder, Colorado, attack suspect charged with federal hate crimes
A man accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a group of people in Boulder, Colorado, who gathered in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 12 hate crime counts, prosecutors said on June 25. The indictment comes after a federal judge ruled last week that there was enough evidence to move forward with a hate crime case against Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45. The indictment, which was unsealed on June 25, accuses Soliman of attacking members of "Run for Their Lives," a group advocating for the release of the hostages held in Gaza since the assault on Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. The incident occurred on June 1 as the group gathered at a pedestrian mall in downtown Boulder for a weekly demonstration. Authorities said Soliman targeted the group with Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower, injuring more than a dozen people. The 12 hate crime counts against Soliman include nine counts of violating 18 U.S.C. § 249, willfully causing injury to a person because of their actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado. It also includes three counts of violating 18 U.S.C. § 844(h), using fire or an explosive to commit a felony. Soliman had previously been charged with a federal hate crime offense, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. State prosecutors have also charged Soliman with 118 criminal counts, including attempted murder and other offenses. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if he's found guilty of the federal hate crime charges against him. Boulder attack: How a father of 5 morphed into a terror suspect with Boulder's Jews in his crosshairs What happened in the attack in Boulder? Boulder dispatch received several calls to the outdoor Pearl Street Mall at around 1:26 p.m. local time on June 1, police said. Initial reports indicated that there was a man with a weapon, and people were being set on fire near the Boulder County Courthouse. Soliman had carried a backpack weed sprayer that contained a flammable liquid and a black plastic container that held at least 18 glass bottles and jars filled with flammable liquid, several of which had "red rags stuffed through the top to act as wicks," according to the indictment. The indictment states that he then allegedly approached the Run for Their Lives group and threw two ignited Molotov cocktails while shouting "Free Palestine!" Authorities said 15 people between the ages of 25 and 88 were injured with burns. Soliman was taken into custody following the attack. Authorities closed off several blocks in downtown Boulder surrounding the county courthouse as multiple teams processed the crime scene and investigated a subject vehicle. The indictment said a handwritten document was recovered from the vehicle driven by Soliman. According to the indictment, the document stated, "Zionism is our enemies untill [sic] Jerusalem is liberated and they are expelled from our land," and also described Israel as a "cancer entity." The indictment further alleges that Soliman told law enforcement during an interview that he viewed "anyone supporting the exist [sic] of Israel on our land" to be "Zionist." He allegedly said he "decide[d] to take [his] revenge from these people' and "search[ed] the internet looking for any Zionist event," according to the indictment. Soliman also said he learned of the Run for Their Lives group through online searches for 'Zionist' events and that he was able to identify the group after seeing the flags and signs they carried outside the county courthouse, the indictment states. The Associated Press reported that during the June 18 hearing, Soliman's defense attorney had urged the judge not to allow the hate crime case to proceed because the alleged attack was not a hate crime. The attorney said the attack was motivated by opposition to the political movement of Zionism, according to AP. One year later: Anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate incidents spike since Oct. 7 attacks Who is Mohamed Soliman? Soliman entered the United States in August 2022 on a B-2 tourist visa that expired over two years ago, according to Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. An affidavit said he was born in Egypt and lived in Kuwait for 17 years before moving to Colorado three years ago. Soliman, who has a valid Colorado driver's license and no prior criminal history, told investigators that he planned the attack for a year and "was waiting until after his daughter graduated to conduct the attack," according to the affidavit. He hoped to use a gun and had taken shooting classes, but his immigration status prevented him from purchasing a firearm, the affidavit said. Uber confirmed that Soliman had worked as a driver starting in spring 2023, though the company did not specify whether he worked driving passengers or for Uber Eats, or both. The company terminated Soliman's account following the attack but noted that he had "no concerning feedback while driving on the Uber platform." According to the affidavit, he lived at a home in Colorado Springs with his wife and five children. Soliman's wife and children, ages 4 to 18, were detained by immigration agents on June 3, and the Trump administration said they would be subjected to expedited deportation. But a federal judge in Denver blocked the move on June 4, saying the family is entitled to due process. By then, the family had been transferred to a detention facility in Texas, where the case is expected to be heard. Contributing: Susan Miller, Jorge L. Ortiz, Christopher Cann, Michael Loria, and Phaedra Trethan, USA TODAY
UPI
3 days ago
- Politics
- UPI
Colorado terror attack suspect charged with 18 hate crime counts
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, was charged in state and federal court, including 18 U.S. counts of a federal hate crime near the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colo., on June 1. Photo by Boulder Police Department | License Photo June 25 (UPI) -- The 45-year-old man accused of using a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to burn people demonstrating in support of Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colo., has been charged with 12 counts of hate crime, according to the Justice Department on Wednesday. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, earlier was charged with a single hate crime count for the June 1 attack on Run for Their Lives during a pro-Israel demonstration at Port Street Mall, DOJ said. He also faces 118 charges in state court, including attempted murder. If convicted in federal court, Soliman could face the maximum sentence of life in prison. In the indictment, which was unsealed one day later on Wednesday and obtained by Axios, he has been charged with nine federal counts of violence against individuals because of actual or perceived race, color, religion or national origin, and three counts involving fire or explosives to commit a felony. The Colorado Springs resident was booked into the Boulder County jail after the attack near the county courthouse. On June 2, state bond was set at $10 million and the same day he was charged with a federal crime. According to the federal indictment, Soliman told FBI investigators that he viewed "anyone supporting the exist [sic] of Israel on our land" to be "Zionist." The defendant said that he decided to take "revenge from these people." Soliman said that he learned of Run for Their Lives through internet searches for "Zionist" events and that he identified the "Zionist" group when he saw the flags and signs they carried at the courthouse. At least 15 people were injured. Two were airlifted to a hospital in Aurora near Denver, an FBI official said. Boulder is 30 miles north of Denver. Soliman, an Egyptian national, entered California in August 2022 on a B2 visa that expired in February 2023 and his asylum claim was pending, said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. "The Colorado Terrorist attack suspect, Mohamed Soliman, is illegally in our country," she said in a post on X. "He filed for asylum in September 2022." He reportedly lived in Kuwait for 17 years before moving to Colorado. Soliman entered the park carrying a backpack weed sprayer that contained a flammable liquid and a black plastic container that held at least 18 glass bottles and jars. They all contained a flammable liquid and several had red rags stuffed through the top to act as wicks, commonly referred to as Molotov cocktails. At approximately 1:30 p.m., Soliman approached the Run for Their Lives group and threw two Molotov cocktails that he had ignited, according to the indictment. When throwing one of the Molotov cocktails, he shouted, "Free Palestine!" Later, a handwritten document was recovered from the vehicle driven by Soliman. The document included the following statements: "Zionism is our enemies until [sic] Jerusalem is liberated and they are expelled from our land," and also described Israel as a "cancer entity." His family, including his wife and five children, were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for expedited deportation from Dilley, Texas, the Department of Homeland Security said. On June 4, a federal judge temporarily blocked the deportations. The family's case was subsequently transferred to the Western District of Texas, where a federal judge on June 18 extended the temporary restraining order.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hate crime case against Boulder suspect can go forward, judge rules
A federal judge has ruled there is enough evidence to proceed with a hate crime case against a man accused of injuring more than a dozen people after lobbing Molotov cocktails at people in Boulder, Colorado who were supporting Israeli hostages in Gaza. Fifteen people ages 52 to 88 were injured with burns ranging from serious to minor when Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, launched the attack, authorities say. He lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado, after coming to the United States on a tourist visa in late 2022 and staying after it expired. Soliman faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if he's found guilty of the federal hate crime charges against him. The native of Egypt also has been charged in state court with 118 criminal counts, including attempted murder and other offenses. He sat expressionless June 18 in federal court in Denver. A city rattled: Divisions deepen in wealthy, liberal Boulder after antisemitic attack Soliman is accused of lobbing Molotov cocktails and using a makeshift flamethrower to target Run for Their Lives, a group advocating for the release of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and held in Gaza for more than 20 months. The attack in Boulder came less than two weeks after two Israeli Embassy staff members were shot to death in Washington, D.C., amid a rise in antisemitism incidents across the United States and as tensions have escalated over the war in Gaza, prompted by a brutal Hamas-led assault on Israeli border communities Oct. 7, 2023. Soliman said "he wanted them to all die. ... He said he would go back and do it again and had no regret doing what he did," Boulder Detective John Sailer wrote in court papers. Soliman said that, to him, anyone who supported the existence of Israel on "our land" is a Zionist. He defined "our land" as Palestine, court documents said. Soliman hurled two of the 18 Molotov cocktails he'd brought with him, authorities said, yelling "Free Palestine." A federal affidavit charging Soliman with a hate crime and attempted murder says he learned about the march from an online search. He said he waited for his daughter to graduate from high school before executing the plot, according to the affidavit. He hoped to use a gun and had taken shooting classes, but his immigration status prevented him from purchasing a firearm, the affidavit says. In her first public statement, Soliman's wife, Hayam El Gamal, who along with her five children is being held at a family detention facility in south Texas, said they are "in total shock.'' El Gamal and the children, now ages 4 to 18, were arrested by immigration agents June 3, and the White House said they would be subjected to expedited deportation. But a federal judge in Denver blocked that move the next day, saying they were entitled to due process. By then the family had been transferred to the detention facility in Texas, where the case will be heard. 'We are grieving, and we are suffering,'' El Gamal said in social media remarks posted June 18. "We are treated like animals by the officers, who told us we are being punished for what my husband is accused of doing.'' El Gamal said the family has been cooperating with authorities, and she expressed concern for both the victims of the attack and her children's well-being. El Gamal made the comments through Eric Lee, the lawyer representing her and the children, who posted them to his X account. Lee added that a federal judge extended a temporary restraining order keeping the Trump administration from deporting the family, who came to the United States from Kuwait in 2022 and sought asylum. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The national organization Run for Their Lives has sponsored walks and runs in hundreds of cities since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel, the deadliest on Jews since the Holocaust, as about 1,200 people were killed and 240 were taken hostage by Hamas. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed since the onset of the war, which Israel launched in response to the attack. Contributing: Phaedra Trethan, Michael Loria and Trevor Hughes This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hate crime case against Boulder suspect can go forward, judge rules
