Colorado firebombing suspect pleads guilty to murder
A man accused of firebombing a group of demonstrators advocating for the release of Israeli hostages last year pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Colorado on Thursday.
Prosecutorssaid Mohamed Sabry Soliman threw Molotov cocktails at the crowd, and injured at least 12 people, one of whom died.
Authorities say he planned the attack for a year, watching videos on explosives before driving from his home in Colorado Springs to Boulder to target the event. He told police after he was arrested that he wanted to "kill all Zionist people", according to court documents.
In addition to the state murder charge, Soliman also faces a federal hate crime charge. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.
The firebombing last June escalated concerns about antisemitic violence in the US, coming shortly after a fatal shooting outside a Jewish centre in Washington, DC, and an arson at the home of Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania's Jewish governor.
Soliman, an Egyptian national, arrived in California in 2022 on a non-immigrant visa that expired in February 2023, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.
On 1 June, 2025, he hurled Molotov cocktails while shouting "Free Palestine" at members of Run For Their Lives in Colorado, a group that met weekly to support the release of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas during the 7 October attacks, prosecutors said.
Police also found a container containing at least 14 other unlit Molotov cocktails, they said.
An 82-year-old woman named Karen Diamond later died from injuries caused by the attack.
On Thursday morning, a judge read the charges against Soliman, as he answered with guilty plea against each charge via an interpreter.
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty read a statement from Diamond's family during the hearing. The family did not attend the proceeding.
"Our only request is that the attacker never see his family again since he is responsible for us never seeing our mother again," the family's statement read, according to CBS News.
Soliman also faces 12 federal charges in a separate but related case, including for hate crimes and using fire or an explosive to commit a felony.
According to his federal indictment, Soliman told law enforcement that he decided to take "revenge" on individuals he considered to be "Zionist", and searched the internet for a "Zionist event".
His attorneys have said in federal court filings that his actions came as a "shock to his family" and were "profoundly inconsistent" with his earlier conduct.
