Boulder attack suspect threw Molotov cocktails at people rallying for Israeli hostages, officials say. Here’s what we know.

Officials in Boulder, Colorado, now say 12 people were injured in an attack Sunday on a group of peaceful demonstrators who were marching to support Israeli hostages in Gaza. 

The incident is being investigated as an act of terrorism, according to the FBI, which described it as targeted. The suspect, 45-year-old Mohamed Soliman, was taken into custody. He is facing multiple felony charges as well as a federal hate crime charge.

Soliman will be charged in state court with 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder, eight “with intent and deliberation” and the other eight “with extreme indifference,” Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty said Monday. He’s also being charged with two counts of use of an incendiary device and 16 counts of attempted use of an incendiary device.

Here is what we know so far.

What happened in Boulder?

The attack occurred at around 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the outdoor Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, near the historic County Courthouse in the city’s downtown. It was the site of a march held to advocate for the hostages who were taken from southern Israel by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, and have yet to be released.

Witnesses said the suspect used a “makeshift flamethrower” and Molotov cocktails to harm demonstrators, leaving multiple people with burns, according to the FBI. Those who suffered injuries had been standing outside of the courthouse. In the aftermath, a burn scar was visible in front of the courthouse building. 

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who is Jewish, condemned the attack, calling it a “heinous and targeted act on the Jewish community.”

Investigators said at a news conference Monday afternoon that the suspect had another 16 unused Molotov cocktails “within arms reach” at the time of his arrest.

The FBI’s Colorado office said those who attended the march were participating in a scheduled, weekly event. Organized by the group Run for Their Lives, local branches hold community walks and runs in different cities within Colorado, around the country and internationally.

“We are a local chapter of the global initiative Run For Their Lives,” reads the description of the Boulder chapter’s Facebook page. “We do an 18 minute weekly walk to show international solidarity with the hostages taken from Israel during the 10/7 massacre, and still being held in Gaza. We will walk until they are all released.”

Rachel Amaru, an organizer at Run for Their Lives in Boulder, called the attack “blatantly antisemitic” in comments to CBS Colorado. It took place less than two weeks after two Israeli Embassy employees were killed in a shooting outside of the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., which is also being investigated as a hate crime.

Omer Shachar, a co-leader of Run for Their Lives Denver, told CBS News the group contacted Boulder police several times about security concerns around the event prior to Sunday. CBS News has reached out to Boulder police for comment.

Who was injured in the Boulder attack?

Police said the victims of the Boulder attack included four women and four men, whose ages range from 52 to 88. One of them was seriously injured, according to Boulder Police Chief Stephan Redfearn, who said the person had been hospitalized in critical condition.

The 88-year-old is a Holocaust refugee who fled Europe, according to Rabbi Israel Wilhelm, the Chabad director at the University of Colorado Boulder. Wilhelm described her as a “very loving person.” 

Another victim is a professor at the university, the rabbi said.

Two of the injured were flown by helicopter to the burn unit at UCHealth, and four others were taken to Boulder Community Health, according to police and the hospitals. All of the patients at Boulder Community Health had either been discharged or transferred elsewhere later Sunday night, the hospital said, although it did not specify how many were discharged versus transferred.

Who is the Boulder attack suspect?

The suspect was identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, FBI Special Agent in Charge Mike Michalek said Sunday. He is facing multiple felony charges and a federal hate crimes charge.

Witnesses allegedly heard Soliman yell “Free Palestine” during the attack, according to Michalek, who said it was “clear this is a targeted act of violence.” Two sources told CBS News that witnesses who spoke to investigators also alleged the suspect shouted “End Zionist” during the attack.

The suspect told investigators he “researched on YouTube how to make Molotov Cocktails, purchased the ingredients to do so, and constructed them,” an affidavit filed by the Department of Justice says.

He also allegedly “stated that he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,” and that he had been planning the attack for a year, the affidavit says.

Soliman is an Egyptian national, government officials confirmed to CBS Colorado. Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the suspect first arrived in the United States in August 2022, originally on a non-immigrant visa that expired in February 2023. She said he filed for asylum a month after arriving in the U.S., in September 2022, but did not provide details about the outcome of that immigration case or whether it was resolved. 

Soliman had recently been living in Colorado Springs, about 100 miles south of Boulder. 

After the attack, authorities evacuated three blocks of Pearl Street for the rest of the day as they probed a vehicle of interest in the area, which an FBI official later said belonged to the suspect. On Sunday night, the FBI said it was “conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity related to the attack” in El Paso County, which includes Colorado Springs.

FBI Director Kash Patel, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard have referred to the incident as a terrorist attack.

“The @ODNIgov’s National Counterterrorism Center is working with the FBI and local law enforcement on the ground investigating the targeted terror attack against a weekly meeting of Jewish community members who had just gathered in Boulder, CO to raise awareness of the hostages kidnapped during Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7,” Gabbard wrote in a social media post.

Soliman’s former employer, an independently owned medical clinic in Centennial, Colorado, called Veros Health, told CBS News that he had a valid work visa while employed there from May 2023 to August 2023.

“We can confirm that Mohamed Soliman worked with Veros from May 2023 to August 2023. He was hired in our accounting department,” Roni Mushovic, the CFO at Veros, said in a statement, noting that Soliman underwent the hiring process through ADP, which handles human resources for the clinic.

“At the time of hire, he was confirmed to have a valid work Visa, which was noted to expire on March 2025,” Mushovic said. 

Prior to Sunday’s attack, Soliman was driving for Uber, which required him to have a valid Social Security number, CBS News has learned. According to an Uber spokesperson, he passed a background check and provided a photo ID and Social Security number when the company hired him in the spring of 2023, and passed another background check “about nine months ago.”

Christa Swanson,

Pat Milton,

Andrew Haubner and

Nicole Sganga

contributed to this report.