Boulder attack: The authorities said before the attack, he had second thoughts and only threw two out of the 18 incendiary devices he had prepared.
The man who attacked a pro-Israel demonstration in Boulder with incendiary devices on Sunday, injuring 12, had posed as a gardener to get close to the group. According to the local authorities, he wanted to kill them all with Molotov cocktails and showed no remorse for his actions after being arrested.
The authorities said that before the attack, he had second thoughts and only threw two out of the 18 incendiary devices he had prepared. He had gas in a backpack sprayer but told investigators he didn’t spray it on anyone but himself “because he had planned on dying.”
The police wrote in an affidavit that Mohamad Sabry Soliman, 45, told them that he had thought he wouldn’t forgive himself if he didn’t attack those protesting for the release of Israeli hostages.
He said he planned the attack for over a year. The authorities said he had no regrets and said he would “do it again”.
“When he was interviewed about the attack, he said he wanted them all to die, he had no regrets, and he would go back and do it again,” Acting US Attorney J. Bishop Grewell for the District of Colorado said during a press conference Monday.
Why did Soliman attack?
Soliman is being charged with hate crime and attempted murder.
An FBI affidavit says Soliman was driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people”.
He has been living in the US illegally since entering the country in August on a B2 visa.
Those hospitalised are aged between 52 and 88.
The police wrote in the affidavit that the accused dressed up like a gardener with an orange vest to get as close to the group as possible.
District Attorney Michael Dougherty said 16 unused Molotov cocktails were recovered by law enforcement. The devices were made up of glass wine carafe bottles or jars with clear liquid and red rags hanging out of them, the FBI said.
He told the probe agencies that he made the devices after researching on YouTube.
“He stated that he had been planning the attack for a year and was waiting until after his daughter graduated to conduct the attack,” the affidavit says.
Solimon is a native of Egypt. He also lived in Kuwait for 17 years.
His neighbours described him and his wife as kindly neighbours with three young kids and two teenagers.
The article originally appeared on Hindustan Times
