FBI says 8 injured in Colorado attack by man with makeshift flamethrower who yelled ‘Free Palestine’

BOULDER Colo AP A man with a makeshift flamethrower yelled Free Palestine and hurled an incendiary device into a group that had assembled to raise attention for Israeli hostages in Gaza law enforcement authorities disclosed Sunday Eight people were injured particular with burns The suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman was booked into the Boulder County jail north of Denver and expected to face charges in connection with the attack the FBI was probing as a terrorist act Online records did not instantly show when he would make a court appearance The burst of violence at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall a four-block area in downtown Boulder unfolded against the backdrop of a war between Israel and Hamas that continues to inflame global tensions and has contributed to a spike in antisemitic violence in the United States The attack happened on the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot which is marked with the reading of the Torah and barely a week after a man who also yelled Free Palestine was charged with fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staffers outside of a Jewish museum in Washington Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a report Monday saying he his wife and the entire nation of Israel were praying for the full recovery of the people wounded in the vicious terror attack in Colorado This attack was aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas purely because they were Jews Netanyahu stated Attack leads to increased safety elsewhere Across the U S the New York Police Department disclosed it has upped its presence at religious sites throughout the city for Shavuot Sadly attacks like this are becoming too common across the country announced Mark Michalek the special agent in charge of the FBI s Denver field office which encompasses Boulder This is an example of how perpetrators of violence continue to threaten communities across the nation The eight casualties who were wounded range in age from to and the injuries spanned from serious to minor bureaucrats reported The attack occurred as people with a volunteer group called Run For Their Lives was concluding their weekly demonstration to raise visibility for the hostages who remain in Gaza Video from the scene shows a witness shouting He s right there He s throwing Molotov cocktails as a police officer with his gun drawn advances on a bare-chested suspect who is holding containers in each hand Alex Osante of San Diego disclosed he was having lunch on a restaurant patio across the pedestrian mall when he heard the crash of a bottle current on the ground a boom sound followed by people yelling and screaming In video of the scene captured by Osante people could be seen pouring water on a woman lying on the ground who Osante disclosed had caught on fire during the attack A man who later identified himself as an Israeli visiting Boulder who decided to join the group that day ran up to Osante on the video asking for several water to help Suspect reemerged after initial attack before being arrested After the initial attack Osante disclosed the suspect went behind selected bushes and then reemerged and threw a Molotov cocktail but apparently accidentally caught himself on fire as he threw it The man then took off his shirt and what appeared to be a bulletproof vest before the police arrived The man dropped to the ground and was arrested without any apparent resistance in the video that Osante filmed As people tried to help the woman on the ground another woman who appeared to be a participant in the event yelled to others out of the camera s view defending their cause saying they don t talk about the leadership but just talk about the hostages Lynn Segal was among about people who gathered Sunday They had finished their march in front of the courthouse when a rope of fire shot in front of her and then two big flares She announced the scene expeditiously turned chaotic as people worked to find water to put out flames and find help Segal who mentioned she is Jewish on her father s side and has supported the Palestinian cause for more than years was concerned that she might be accused of helping the suspect because she was wearing a pro-Palestinian shirt There were people who were burning I requested to help she noted But I didn t want to be associated with the perpetrator Officials say they believe the suspect acted alone Executives did not disclose details about Soliman but stated they believe that he acted alone and that no other suspect was being sought No criminal charges were at once stated but personnel announced they would move to hold Soliman accountable He was also injured and was taken to the hospital to be treated but officials didn t elaborate on the nature of his injuries FBI leaders instantly declared the attack an act of terrorism and the Justice Department denounced it as a needless act of violence which follows latest attacks against Jewish Americans This act of terror is being investigated as an act of ideologically motivated violence based on the early information the evidence and witness accounts We will speak clearly on these incidents when the facts warrant it FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino stated in a post on X Israel s war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct killing specific people mostly civilians and abducting about others They are still holding hostages around a third presumed to be alive after the majority of the rest were circulated in ceasefire agreements or other deals Israel s military campaign has killed over people in Hamas-run Gaza mostly women and children according to Gaza s Fitness Ministry which does not say how a large number of of the dead were civilians or combatants The offensive has destroyed vast areas displaced around of the population and left people almost totally reliant on international aid The violence comes four years after a shooting rampage at a grocery store in Boulder about miles kilometers northwest of Denver that killed people The gunman was sentenced to life in prison for murder after a jury rejected his attempt to avoid prison time by pleading not guilty by reason of insanity Multiple blocks of the pedestrian mall area were evacuated by police The scene shortly after the attack was tense as law enforcement agents with a police dog walked through the streets looking for threats and instructed the society to stay clear of the mall