Egyptian National Charged with Federal Hate Crime After Boulder Gathering Attack Injures Eight
At about 2 p.m. on June 1, 2025, a gathering in front of the courthouse in Boulder, Boulder County, Colorado, was attacked with Molotov cocktails, leaving eight people with burn injuries. On June 2, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announced that Mohammed Sabry Soliman, 45, an Egyptian national living in Colorado Springs, had been charged with one count of a federal hate crime involving actual or perceived race, religion, or national origin.
According to the criminal complaint, the gathering was organized by Run for Their Lives, which holds weekly walks to call attention to the Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Soliman threw two lit Molotov cocktails at the participants, yelling "Free Palestine" as he threw them, and the devices ignited in the crowd, causing burn injuries to eight individuals.
The complaint also alleges that when Soliman was detained by local law enforcement, at least fourteen unlit Molotov cocktails and a backpack weed sprayer potentially containing a flammable substance were found nearby. A car registered to Soliman, parked a block away, contained a red gas container, red material consistent with the rags used in the Molotov cocktails, and paperwork bearing the words "Israel," "Palestine," and "USAID."
The complaint further alleges that in an interview with local and federal law enforcement, Soliman said he had researched how to make Molotov cocktails on YouTube, purchased the ingredients, and constructed them himself before driving to Boulder with them. He said he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead, and that he would do it again. He said he had been planning the attack for a year and did it because he needed to stop the group from taking over "our land," Palestine.
The case is being investigated by the FBI's Denver Field Office and the Boulder Police Department. The prosecution is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and National Security Division, in coordination with the Boulder County District Attorney's Office. The case number is 25-mj-000108-NRN. The charges in the complaint are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Related: Indictment Unsealed Charging Boulder Molotov Attack Suspect with 12 Hate Crime Counts
Related: Soliman pleads guilty to federal hate crimes in the Boulder attack (2026 follow-up, in Chinese)
(Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado)
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：博尔德县法院大楼，袭击发生在该法院前的公园空地。Paul Sableman 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Boulder County Courthouse, in front of which the attack took place. Photo by Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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