(COLORADO SPRINGS) — On Wednesday, June 25, an indictment was unsealed charging Mohamed Sabry Soliman with 12 hate crime counts.
On Sunday, June 1, the Boulder Police Department was called to the outdoor Pearl Street Mall about a report of an attack on a group of people who, according to the FBI, were walking in a regularly scheduled, weekly, peaceful event.
According to the Department of Justice, Soliman approached the ‘Run for Their Lives’ group and threw two Molotov cocktails, and allegedly, he shouted “Free Palestine!”
Later, a handwritten document was found in a vehicle allegedly driven by Soliman, which included statements such as “Zionism is our enemies untill [sic] Jerusalem is liberated and they are expelled from our land,” and further described Israel as a “cancer entity.”
The indictment further alleges that during an interview with law enforcement, Soliman stated, among other things, that he viewed “anyone supporting the exist [sic] of Israel on our land” to be “Zionist.” The defendant stated that he “decide[d] to take [his] revenge from these people” and “search[ed] the internet looking for any Zionist event.” Soliman stated that he learned of the Run for Their Lives group through internet searches for “Zionist” events and that he identified the “Zionist” group when he saw the flags and signs they carried at the courthouse.
According to the DOJ, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado and the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section are prosecuting the case.
