Pearl St Mall: Suspect in Colorado attack accidentally lit himself on fire at start of rampage
A video has emerged of the jaw-dropping moment a man wielding a flamethrower in an anti-Semitic attack on a peaceful Israeli rally in Colorado lit himself on fire at the start of his rampage.
Wild new video shows the moment the suspected Colorado terrorist accidentally set himself on fire at the start of his heinous firebombing rampage.
The footage, shot by an eyewitness, captured the suspect wearing a bright orange vest with something strapped to the back as he started hurling Molotov cocktails at a peaceful pro-Israel march in Boulder on Sunday.
As he raises his arm to launch a second gasoline bomb, his vest could be seen going up in flames, the stunning clips shows.
The wife and children of Boulder, Colorado, terrorism suspect Mohamed Soliman are in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the family is being processed for expedited removal, according to the Department of Homeland Security. @trevorlault reports. pic.twitter.com/EwmFmBvNOQ
— Good Morning America (@GMA) June 4, 2025
“I was right here … front row and center to this horrific event,” Alex Osante, who shot the sickening video, told Fox News of the moment he spotted the suspect emerging from the bushes.
“He threw a Molotov cocktail at a woman, but when he threw the Molotov cocktail, he lit himself on fire,” Mr Osante said.
“After he lit himself on fire, he came back, he took off his vest, which looked like a bulletproof vest, and the shirt.”
The wife and all five children of Colorado terrorist suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman have been arrested by federal immigration agents, sources told The New York Post.
Soliman, 45 — an Egyptian national who is accused of injuring 12 people with a homemade flamethrower and Molotov cocktails during an anti-Semitic attack in Boulder — was living in the US illegally for two months after his legal status expired on March 28.
Following his arrest on Sunday, ICE and Homeland Security Investigation agents have taken his family into federal custody, a Department of Homeland Security official told the Post.
The revelation came after US President Donald Trump broke his silence on the attack, blaming what he called “Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy” for the horrific incident.
“(The) horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the United States of America,” Mr Trump posted on Truth Social.
“He came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. He must go out under ‘TRUMP’ Policy. Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law. This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland. My heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy, and the Great People of Boulder, Colorado!”
The suspect has been identified as 45-year-old Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman, FBI Special Agent in Charge Mike Michalek said.
Federal prosecutors have charged Soliman with hate crime offences and set his bail at US$10 million.
Soliman allegedly told investigators he had been planning the horror attack for a year but waited until after his daughter had graduated to carry out the crime.
He allegedly disguised himself as a landscaper and used a garden hose filled with petrol to spray flames at his victims, sources told The New York Post.
He allegedly said he intended to “kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead”.
Police found a further 14 unused Molotov cocktails at the scene.
It comes as an 88-year-old Holocaust refugee was among those wounded when a shirtless man threw what appeared to be homemade molotov cocktails at people who were taking part in a walk to raise awareness for Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza.
Boulder police chief Steve Redfearn said eight people were injured in the attack, including four women and four men, ages 52 to 88.
Friends of the injured woman told local news outlets she was an “amazing person” who regularly spoke at synagogues and schools about fleeing Europe as the Nazi regime rose to power.
“She is passionate about standing up for good things and she is an extremely exceptional person, always a smile on her face,” a friend told CBS in Colorado.
“Her life wasn’t easy, but she is just a bright light. And anybody who is her friend is a friend for life.”
Elsewhere in the US, police presence has been increased at religious sites.
The New York City Police Department announced it had deployed extra patrols and heavy weapons teams for the Jewish holiday Shavuot.
Several people were injured in what the FBI is calling a “targeted terror attack”.
Witnesses have described a shirtless man throwing something resembling homemade molotov cocktails at people who were taking part in a walk to raise awareness for Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza.
Fox News reported Soliman had overstayed his visa and was in the country illegally and after filing a claim, he was cleared for work authorisation by US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which expired this March.
“The Biden Admin granted the alien a visa and then, when he illegally overstayed, they gave him a work permit,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller wrote on X. “Immigration security is national security. No more hostile migration. Keep them out and send them back.”
FBI agents have been combing through the attacker’s home in nearby El Paso County, Colorado.
Asked if it was a terror attack against the protesters, Redfearn insisted it was “way too early to speculate motive” behind the incident, which took place near Pearl Street mall.
“The initial callers indicated that there was a man with a weapon and people were being set on fire,” Redfearn said.
Video footage captured the alleged attacker holding two bottles of clear liquid and calling for death to “Zionists”.
“They are killers! How many children you killed?” he shouted.
He also shouted “End Zionists” and “Palestine is free”.
Police on the scene “immediately encountered that suspect, who was taken into custody without incident,” Redfearn said.
FBI Director Kash Patel took to X to declare the agency was “aware of and fully investigating a targeted terror attack in Boulder, Colorado”.
“Our agents and local law enforcement are on the scene already, and we will share updates as more information becomes available,” he added.
AP
The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish activist group, said on X that it was “aware of reports of an attack at today’s Boulder Run for Their Lives event.”
That event, it said, was a “weekly meeting of Jewish community members to run/walk in support of the hostages” who were seized during Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking the war in Gaza.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York voiced outrage at the attack.
“Terrorism against Jews does not stop at the Gaza border – it is already burning the streets of America,” he said in a statement.
“Today, in Boulder, Colorado, Jewish people marched with a moral and humane demand: to return the hostages. In response, the Jewish protesters were brutally attacked, with an attacker throwing a Molotov cocktails at them,” he said.
“Make no mistake – this is not a political protest, this is terrorism.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle in the US expressed revulsion at the tragedy and said they were praying for the victims’ recovery.
“Tonight, a peaceful demonstration was targeted in a vile, anti-Semitic act of terror,” top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “Once again, Jews are left reeling from repeated acts of violence and terror.”
Several organisations also decried the apparent hate-fuelled violence. “Our community was targeted in a violent, anti-Semitic attack,” the Israeli-American Council said in a statement.
“This is an attack on all of us – and we will not stay silent.”
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Originally published as Pearl St Mall: Suspect in Colorado attack accidentally lit himself on fire at start of rampage