How a father of 5 morphed into a terror suspect with Boulder's Jews in his crosshairs

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Editor's Note: This article has been updated to accurately reflect the mission of Run for Their Lives to raise awareness about the hostages held in Gaza.

BOULDER, CO ‒ An Egyptian immigrant armed with Molotov cocktails camouflaged his murderous intent with flowers and clothes that made him look like a landscaper.

An elderly Jewish woman pushed her dog in a stroller, peacefully asking for Israeli hostages to be released 7,000 miles away.

Long-running concerns about rising antisemitism in the United States erupted into a shocking act of violence June 1 that injured 12 in this famously liberal city, drawing immediate and fierce condemnation from President Donald Trump and others.

Now, court records and interviews paint a chilling picture of the suspect's yearlong plot to firebomb a protest to support the Israeli hostages in Gaza on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, faces federal hate crime and attempted murder charges, as well as state charges of attempted murder, use of incendiary devices and other offenses. Soliman, a father of five who was an Uber driver, remains jailed.

"Soliman stated he would do it again. He specifically targeted the 'Zionist Group' that had gathered in Boulder having learned about the group from an online search," FBI said in court documents.

The afternoon attack on the protest walk stunned Boulder, prompting many businesses along its red-brick pedestrian Pearl Street Mall to stay closed June 2.

Jewish community organizations struggled to carry on with day camps and the Shavuot holiday, a harvest festival that also commemorates God's gift of the law to the Jewish people. Under heavy security, passing tourists snapped photos of the scene, where workers scrubbed clean the scorch marks from the pavement in front of the historic Boulder County Courthouse.

"Yesterday’s horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the United States of America," Trump said in a social media post. "Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law."

Soliman planned attack for a year, authorities say

As court proceedings against Soliman advanced, investigators have released new details about his suspected motivations.

According to federal officials, Soliman entered the United States in late 2022 on a tourist visa, and later requested asylum. He, his wife and their children lived in Colorado Springs, a more conservative city about 100 miles south of Boulder, and Soliman worked as an Uber driver, the company confirmed.

Soliman is a native Egyptian who lived in Kuwait with his family for more than 10 years. He told investigators he deliberately waited a year to attack the "Run for their Lives" protest, until after his daughter graduated high school.

A profile of her published in the Colorado Springs Gazette said that the family arrived in the United States not speaking English, but that Habiba Soliman learned English and founded an Arabic club at her high school. According to school records, she graduated May 29.

Her father drove to Boulder to attack the demonstrators three days later, investigators said.

"Throughout the interview, Soliman stated that he hated the Zionist group and did this because he hated this group and needed to stop them from taking over 'our land,' which he explained to be Palestine," FBI agent Jessica Krueger said in an affidavit.

Investigators said Soliman told them that as part of his planning he took a class in concealed weapons to learn how to fire a gun but discovered his immigration status prevented him from buying one. Without a gun, Soliman told investigators, he turned to gasoline and glass bottles, along with a backpack sprayer often used by landscapers to dispense pesticide or fertilizer.

"Mohamed expressed his hatred for the 'Zionist Organization' as they support and fund the bombings that are taking place in Palestine," Boulder Police Det. John Sailer wrote in an arrest warrant. "Mohamed drove from Castle Rock where he purchased most of the materials needed to carry out his attack."

Soliman told investigators he stopped several times on his drive from Colorado Springs, to buy the bottles for the Molotov cocktails, the 87-octane gas to fill them and to Home Depot to buy flowers as camouflage, dressing like a gardener "in order to get as close as possible to the group."

Protesters were used to harsh accusations

The disguise didn't work on Lisa Turnquist, 66.

A longtime attendee at the protest walks, Turnquist has gotten a sense of how they usually go and who is around on Sunday afternoons in Boulder. The man dressed as landscaper, she said, immediately stood out as she walked past the courthouse with her dog, Jake, in a stroller.

About 20 people were walking June 1, and while she saw familiar faces, Turnquist said she didn't know many by name. Although they share the desire to see the Israeli hostages freed, she said, people don't necessarily exchange names.

Over the months of protest walks ‒ they began shortly after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023 ‒ Turnquist has heard the threats and epithets. Attendees ignore the people calling them supporters of genocide, she said, and just keep up their silent presence. Turnquist is Jewish, and her partner's family lives in Israel.

"We don't confront anybody when we're walking. We do it quietly," Turnquist told Paste BN, tearful and angry. "We ignore the people who are against us. Week after week after week, people are yelling at us all the time. They say we're causing genocide. We are not causing genocide."

Extremism and antisemitism experts have been warning for several years that attacks directed at Jews are on the rise. Across Boulder, Jewish facilities were being protected by police and armed guards after the attack. The Mountain States Anti-Defamation League expressed its concern in a statement.

"We must use this moment as a wake-up call: the rising tide of antisemitism in America demands urgent action from all of us, and we must stand in solidarity together," the group said.

Although she was aware of such concerns, Turnquist said, she never thought anyone would physically attack the marches in Boulder.

A violent encounter

As Turnquist drew near the courthouse to begin that day's walk, Soliman was leaving behind his parked Toyota Prius, investigators said. Inside was a Quran and strips of cloth from which he had torn wicks for his Molotov cocktails. Soliman arrived in Boulder nearly an hour before the march, then made his way to the courthouse carrying flowers and the box of gas-filled glass jars, the sprayer on his back.

Turnquist thought Soliman looked out of place on a Sunday afternoon. The courthouse grounds are usually maintained by county workers, and they don't work Sundays.

"Something said 'Keep on walking by him,'" she said. She kept walking. Others weren't so lucky.

Turnquist said she grabbed a towel from her dog stroller to help smother the flames on one elderly woman’s legs. "It took eight of us to get the fire out on her."

Turnquist said she saw Soliman just standing around as bystanders smothered the flames, and he didn't resist when police confronted him. Turnquist said she gave a statement to investigators after the attack.

"I think he either wanted to be killed as a martyr or he wanted to be caught," she said after attaching a bouquet of flowers and an Israeli flag to a small memorial outside the courthouse a day after the attack. "What was he planning on doing? Was he planning on getting away and hitting other people?"

'We have to push back'

Soliman was injured in the attack, and he later told investigators he had planned to die.

The FBI said investigators found 14 unused Molotov cocktails in a plastic bin near where police detained Soliman, along with the weed sprayer loaded with gas. Investigators said Soliman disclosed he had left at home an iPhone containing messages to his family, along with a journal. Investigators did not immediately release any details of those messages or the contents of the journal.

"He said he did not spray the gas on anyone but himself because he had planned on dying. Mohamed mentioned several times he wanted to be dead," Boulder police wrote in an arrest affidavit. "Mohamed said he only threw two (Molotov cocktails) at the group because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before. He said he had to do it, he should do it, and he would not forgive himself if he did not do it."

Two of the dozen people injured remained hospitalized the day after the attack.

Turnquist said she's struggling to understand why someone would so violently attack peaceful protesters. She had considered attending Soliman's court hearing June 2 but worried she might not be able to restrain herself from a courtroom outburst. She said she can't understand how someone would think that a request for hostages to be returned would be seen as grounds for a terror attack.

"We just want them home, and that's why we do this," she said. "I woke up this morning and didn't want to get out of bed. I didn't want to get out of bed and didn't want to talk to my friends who were calling me. But this is when we have to get up and stand up, and we have to push back."

Soliman remains jailed on a $10 million cash bond.