Man attacks Colorado crowd with firebombs, 8 injured

Eight people were injured on Sunday when a 45-year-old man yelled "Free Palestine" and threw incendiary devices into a crowd in Boulder, Colorado where a demonstration to remember the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza was taking place, authorities said.

Four women and four men between 52 and 88 years old were transported to hospitals, Boulder police said. Authorities had earlier put the count of the injured at six and said at least one of them was in a critical condition.

"As a result of these preliminary facts, it is clear that this is a targeted act of violence and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism," the FBI special agent in charge of the Denver Field Office, Mark Michalek, said.

Michalek named the suspect as Mohamed Soliman, who was hospitalised shortly after the attack. Reuters could not immediately locate contact information for him or his family.

Police tape cordons off the site of an attack that injured multiple people in Boulder. Photos: Reuters

FBI Director Kash Patel also described the incident as a "targeted terror attack," and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said it appeared to be "a hate crime given the group that was targeted." Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said he did not believe anyone else was involved.

"We're fairly confident we have the lone suspect in custody," he said.

The attack took place on the Pearl Street Mall, a popular pedestrian shopping district in the shadow of the University of Colorado, during an event organized by Run for Their Lives, an organisation devoted to drawing attention to the hostages seized in the aftermath of Palestinian’s 2023 attack on Israel.

Policemen gather near the scene.

In a statement, the group said the walks have been held every week since then for the hostages, "without any violent incidents until today."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X he was shocked by the "terrible antisemitic terror attack," describing it as "pure antisemitism."

The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the United States over Israel's war in Gaza, which has spurred both an increase in antisemitic hate crime as well as moves by conservative supporters of Israel led by President Donald Trump to brand pro-Palestinian protests as antisemitic. His administration has detained protesters of the war without charge and cut off funding to elite US universities that have permitted such demonstrations.

Reuters