Colorado firebomber pleads guilty to hate crime for attack on Israeli hostage demonstration

Prosecutors want a federal judge to sentence Mohamed Soliman to life in prison for nine hate crime charges.DENVER (CN) — A man who firebombed a demonstration for Israeli hostages in the Israel-Hamas war, killing one and injuring seven others, pleaded guilty Thursday morning to nine hate crimes and three explosives charges.Prosecutors say Mohamed Sabry Soliman called for the death of Zionists and to “free Palestine” as he used homemade Molotov cocktails to attack the group at an outdoor mall in Boulder, Colorado, on June 1, 2025.“The defendant violently used these explosives to cause permanent and life-threatening injuries to several of these victims and to cause the death of Karen Diamond,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Hindman said in a Denver courtroom.The hearing drew a large audience both in the gallery and over a phone line, prompting U.S. District Judge John Kane to discourage any disruptions.“This is a case that has generated a great deal of emotional response,” the Jimmy Carter appointee told the audience. “We do not have a crowded courtroom in every case that we have.”Soliman, an Egyptian immigrant, pleaded not guilty in July, but told investigators he had planned to attack the “Zionist group” for a year, hoping to bring “vengeance for his people,” and that he learned how to make Molotov cocktails on YouTube.Soliman dressed as a gardener to gain proximity to the “Run for their Lives” event without suspicion, donning an orange vest and carrying flowers he bought from Home Depot as well as a weed sprayer filled with gasoline.In the arrest affidavit, authorities accuse Soliman of dousing himself with gasoline with the intention of self-immolating rather than being taken into custody. Investigators recovered a handwritten note from Soliman’s car calling Israel a cancer and declaring “Zionism is our enemies untill [sic] Jerusalem is liberated and they are expelled from our land.”On Thursday, Soliman pleaded guilty to one hate crime resulting in death, seven hate crimes causing bodily injury or death and one hate crime attempting to cause bodily injury or death. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of using fire or explosive to commit a felony and one count of carrying explosives during the commission of a felony.Federal prosecutors asked that Soliman be sentenced to life in prison for the hate crimes plus 50 years for the explosives charges.Kane will make that determination at Soliman’s sentencing hearing on Jan. 7, 2027. There, prosecutors say multiple victims and witnesses will give statements.Soliman made no statements of his own, but agreed to the terms of the plea through an interpreter.In state court, Soliman already carries a life sentence for 28 counts of attempted murder, 14 counts of assault and a dozen counts each of possessing an incendiary device and committing a crime of violence.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads