DENVER — The man accused of carrying out an attack on peaceful demonstrators along Boulder's Pearl Street Mall earlier this month has pleaded not guilty to the federal hate crime charges filed against him.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, of Colorado Springs was in federal court in Denver on Friday morning, when his attorney made the plea of his behalf.
On June 1, Soliman allegedly threw Molotov cocktails into a crowd of demonstrating people with the organization Run For Their Lives, which holds a weekly walk to bring attention to the Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Several people, and a dog, were hurt, according to a federal arrest affidavit Denver7 obtained and Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty. A state arrest affidavit added that witnesses saw Soliman using a commercial weed sprayer filled with a flammable substance as a makeshift blowtorch.
According to a state affidavit for Soliman's arrest, he arrived along the outdoor mall shortly before 1 p.m. and was dressed like a gardener so he could get as close to the group as possible. He had purchased flowers from Home Depot and the backpack sprayer, which he had filled with gas, the document reads. Officers with the Boulder Police Department responded to the area around 1:30 p.m. after receiving reports of a man with a "blow torch" who was setting people on fire and throwing Molotov cocktails, the affidavit says. Around 2 p.m., Soliman threw two lit Molotov cocktails at people who were participating in the gathering, the federal affidavit reads. The Molotov cocktails ignited and burned eight people.
Police detained Soliman and he was brought to the hospital.
Nobody was killed in the attack, but the district attorney's office said a few days after the attack that the total number of victims had increased to 15. They were between the ages of 25 and 88 years old.
Law enforcement found that Soliman had brought an additional 16 unlit Molotov cocktails. In an interview after his arrest, Soliman told authorities that he had researched how to make Molotov cocktails after he was denied the purchase of a gun since he is not a legal U.S. citizen, the state affidavit reads.
"He stated that he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead," the federal affidavit reads, and he added that he would do it again.
Soliman further explained that he "hated" the group and wanted to stop them from taking over "our land," which he said was Palestine, according to the federal affidavit. He said he had planned the attack for a year.
Learn more about what Denver7 learned in the arrest affidavit in the video player below.
According to the state affidavit, he said he only threw two of the Molotov cocktails 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."
Soliman faces 118 state charges, including attempted murder, assault, possession of an incendiary device and animal cruelty.
In addition to the state charges, he was charged with 12 federal hate crime charges, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
On Friday, he pleaded not guilty to those hate crime charges. Magistrate Judge Kathryn Starnella noted that lawyers had acknowledged that a plea agreement in the case was possible later, according to the Associated Press.
Last week, a federal judge ruled that there was enough probable cause for the federal hate crime case to continue, with much the hearing focused on if the attack was motivated by politics or natural origin of the victims. The judge said that argument would have to be decided later, but ruled there was enough evidence for the federal case to continue. An attack motivated by someone’s political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law, according to the AP.
Federal officials the day after the attack that the Soliman had been in the United States on an expired travel visa. A few days afterward, Soliman's wife and five children were apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be deported. A judge issued a temporary restraining order to halt the deportation before a federal judge transferred the case to the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Texas.
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