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    Boulder Attack Suspect Appeared to Live a Low-Key Life in Colorado Springs

    The suspect came to the U.S. in 2022 and lived with his family in a suburban neighborhood. He was a ride share driver, and his daughter was embraced by her school community.Mohamed Sabry Soliman told the police that he had tried to disguise himself as a gardener on Sunday afternoon when he headed toward a group that was walking in downtown Boulder, Colo., to remember the hostages being held in Gaza, the authorities said.Mr. Soliman, a 45-year-old born in Egypt, carried flowers he had bought from a Home Depot store, according to a Boulder police detective. He wore an orange vest. And he had strapped on a backpack sprayer, the kind that gardeners often use to apply fertilizer or pesticide.But the sprayer was full of gasoline.The fiery weekend terror attack that the authorities say Mr. Soliman soon carried out — in a plot he said he had hatched himself — injured 12 people, who were burned by two homemade Molotov cocktails that the authorities say he threw into the crowd. Mr. Soliman yelled “Free Palestine” during the attacks, the authorities said, and later told the police he “wanted them all to die” because he believed the demonstrators were “Zionists” supporting the occupation of Palestine.Before Sunday, Mr. Soliman appeared to have lived a prosaic life in Colorado Springs, where he drove for a ride share service and was raising five children with his wife in a worn stucco apartment amid the dry, windy suburban stretch east of town. He told the police he had assembled his dangerous arsenal of explosives from everyday household goods.But the assault resonated far beyond Boulder. It came roughly two weeks after another supporter of the Palestinian cause killed two Israeli embassy workers in Washington, D.C., sending fresh waves of fear through Jewish communities around the world whose members were left wondering if anywhere was safe for them as Israel’s war in Gaza grinded on.Mr. Soliman was arrested minutes after the attack and was being held on a $10 million bond. Police officers found him on a patch of grass near the Boulder courthouse, shirtless and screaming at the crowd, holding two Molotov cocktails. At least 14 other Molotov cocktails were found near him in a black plastic container.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    A Sunday Ritual Turns Into a Smoky Scene of Chaos

    A witness ran to the site of the attack and found people wandering dazed and a friend she said is a Holocaust survivor being helped into an ambulance.Every Sunday at 1 p.m. in Boulder, Colo., the walkers take their places. They have done so since a few weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel. They begin at Pearl and Seventh Streets and walk toward the courthouse, along a pedestrian mall.Lisa Effress, 55, who has lived in Boulder for 17 years, has been there since the first walk. “Whenever I’m in town,” she said, “I try to be there.”The ritual is simple: walk, speak the names of those still held hostage, sometimes sing “Hatikvah,” the Israel national anthem, and bear witness. The numbers vary — 20, sometimes 100. People see the group, hear the songs, and fall into step.They wear red. It’s symbolic. It’s visible.Ms. Effress wasn’t walking this Sunday. She was across the street, having lunch with her daughter. But lunch got cut short. She heard sirens. Police cars, ambulances.She checked the time and figured the group must be near the courthouse. She left lunch and ran over.“I knew immediately — I just knew,” she said. “I ran across the street, looking for everyone.”What she found felt surreal. Smoke. Discarded clothes used to extinguish flames. People dazed, half-undressed. Bags and backpacks left behind in panic. And then, she saw a friend who was a Holocaust survivor, being helped into an ambulance.“It was horrible,” said Ms. Effress, a filmmaker and managing partner in a post-production company. On every walk, Ms. Effress said, she is vigilant. Alert to strange behavior, to tension in the air. “We are peaceful. We are not protesters,” she said. “But there are always people protesting us.”She added: “I have always taught my daughter: Be proud to be Jewish. Don’t be afraid. But in a time like this, it is crazy to think we will ever be walking again. It’s dangerous, it’s not safe for us.”She said that according to a Whatsapp chat for the walking group, the weekly walk has been canceled indefinitely. More

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    The Boulder Attack is the Latest on the Jewish Community

    The attack in Boulder, Colo., follows the murders of two Israeli embassy aides in Washington and an arson at the home of the Jewish governor of Pennsylvania.The attack on an event in Boulder, Colo., for Israeli hostages on Sunday afternoon was the latest on the Jewish community, following two others in recent weeks involving assailants who expressed anger over the war in Gaza.On May 21, two people were fatally shot outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., after which the suspect shouted “Free Palestine.” In April, a man set fire to the residence of Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who is Jewish. The suspect later said the fire was a response to Israeli attacks on Palestinians.“As the American Jewish community continues to reel from the horrific antisemitic murders in Washington, D.C., it is unfathomable that the Jewish community is facing another terror attack here in Boulder, on the eve of the holiday of Shavuot no less,” Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, said in a statement. “Several individuals were brutally attacked while peacefully marching to draw attention to the plight of the hostages who have been held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza for 604 days. I condemn this vicious act of terrorism, and pray for the recovery of the victims.”Colorado’s attorney general, Phil Weiser, said in a statement that the attack “appears to be a hate crime given the group that was targeted.”“People may have differing views about world events and the Israeli-Hamas conflict, but violence is never the answer to settling differences,” he added. “Hate has no place in Colorado.” More