Videos Capture Chaos After Man Sets Members of Boulder’s Jewish Community on Fire.

Videos Capture Chaos Following Firebomb Attack on Jewish Community Members in Boulder

Footage posted on social media shows the frantic aftermath of a Molotov cocktail attack targeting members of Boulder’s Jewish community during a peaceful march calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

In one video, a shirtless man wearing dark sunglasses—believed to be the suspect—paces erratically on a grassy area, clutching two glass containers filled with a clear liquid. He shouts at bystanders while, just feet away, people can be seen administering first aid to a person lying on the ground.

Authorities later identified the suspect as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman. He was taken into custody shortly after the incident. According to the FBI, the attack is being investigated as a “targeted act of terrorism.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a civil rights organization focused on combating antisemitism, said it reviewed the 53-second video captured after the June 1 attack. According to the ADL’s analysis, the suspect is heard yelling, “How many children have you killed?” and “We need to end Zionists.” The organization also noted that the man appeared to gesture toward victims, declaring, “They are killers.”

FBI Assistant Director for Public Affairs Ben Williamson posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the suspect “shouted ‘Free Palestine’ while throwing firebombs at a crowd of Jewish people.”

Six individuals, ranging in age from 67 to 88, were injured and transported to area hospitals. Authorities reported that one person sustained serious injuries, while others were treated for burns and related wounds.

Aaron Brooks, a Boulder resident who frequently joins the weekly march, described the horror he witnessed after rushing to the scene upon hearing calls for medical help.

“I saw smoke rising from the ground, blood on the pavement, and smoke coming from a person,” Brooks said. “It looked like someone was on fire, and people were throwing water on her.”

Brooks also recalled seeing a shirtless man holding bottles and shouting. Initially, he thought another nearby man yelling was an accomplice but later realized he was trying to stop the attacker.

“I yelled at him, ‘What are you doing? Why did you do this?’” Brooks said. “My friends were burning and hurt. I got emotional.”

“I yelled at him, ‘What are you doing? Why did you do this?’” said Aaron Brooks, visibly shaken. “My friends were burning and hurt, and I got emotional.”

In the video reviewed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the chaos unfolds as someone off-camera shouts, “Stay away, stay away,” while the shirtless suspect paces erratically, still shouting. At one point, the man raises his arms before lying down on the grass. A police officer, weapon drawn, cautiously approaches and appears to handcuff the man. A second officer soon joins as the video ends with the suspect on the ground and officers standing over him.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the ADL, condemned the Boulder attack as the second major act of violence targeting the Jewish community in the U.S. within two weeks.

“First, a young couple slaughtered in Washington, D.C. And now, a firebomb hurled at a group in Boulder, Colorado, simply for gathering to show solidarity with the 58 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza,” Greenblatt said.

He described the attacks as part of “a global campaign of intimidation and terror deliberately directed against the Jewish people,” noting a recent surge in antisemitic incidents around the world.

In recent days, Jewish youths were assaulted in London; public spaces in Brisbane, Australia, were defaced with antisemitic graffiti; and synagogues, a Holocaust memorial, and a kosher restaurant in Paris were vandalized.

“Sadly, none of this is surprising,” Greenblatt added. “It’s entirely predictable. This is precisely where anti-Jewish incitement leads. This is exactly what vicious anti-Zionism enables.”