BOULDER, Colo. — One year after a firebombing attack on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall killed one person and injured a dozen more, Colorado's Jewish community is still working to regain its sense of safety.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 2,128 years, for throwing Molotov cocktails at a group of peaceful protesters who were calling for the release of Israeli hostages on June 1, 2025.
The local group chapter of Run For Their Lives held weekly walks at the Pearl Street Mall. Witnesses said Soliman yelled "Free Palestine" before attacking the group and using a makeshift flamethrower. Police said 12 people were hurt, and 82-year-old Karen Diamond died of her injuries a few weeks later.
Senior Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council Brandon Rattiner said divisive and antisemitic rhetoric has not cooled in the year since the attack, leading to violence beyond Boulder.
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"Whether it was the attack at a synagogue in Detroit or whether it was the attack at a mosque in San Diego," Rattiner said. "There's all the data in the world that things start with words, and that words are used to other, other people, that once those people are seen as not sharing our common humanity, violence is more likely to happen against them."
In the days following the attack, he said JEWISHcolorado, an organization formed to protect Jewish Coloradans, raised more than $200,000 to support victims of the Pearl Street attack and to provide security at Jewish events and synagogues.
"Antisemitism has gotten worse, and Jews do not feel safer this June 1 than they did last June 1," Rattiner said. "The Jewish community spends hundreds of millions of dollars every single year on security, and that has only grown. We see more threats, more calls, more incidents than ever before."
Holly and Steve Taylor, who were eating lunch on Pearl Street minutes before the attack happened, said they remember hearing the sirens as first responders raced to the scene.
"The thought of people being fire bombed with those Molotov cocktails, and the poor person being set on fire, and it was, it just was so sad and devastating," said Holly, who is Jewish.
"It was kind of shocking that something like that would happen anywhere, but here specifically," Steve said.
Pete Salvador, who lives in Arvada, said he remembers the day of the attack and said it struck close to home.
"Pearl Street is a big deal for us," Salvador said. "It took us a little while to want to come back up to Boulder. I think we were both pretty shocked, and just we were in disbelief."
The Taylors and Salvador said despite the grief that still hangs over Pearl Street, many people have no choice but to keep living and moving forward.
"You realize that you have to live your life, and you have to enjoy life as much as you can," Salvador said.
"We don't want to give somebody like that the power to make people stay away," Holly said.
Rattiner said the firebombing was a stark reminder that Colorado's Jewish community faces threats even in peaceful settings, like the demonstration the Run For Their Lives group was holding on Pearl Street.
"They were specifically trying to bring attention to the humanitarian crisis that real people were experiencing," Rattiner said. "Antisemitism is real, that the safety and concern of Jews are not taken seriously, and that even those who are practicing their sense of peoplehood apolitically can be targets."
