What we know about the man charged in the attack in Boulder, Colorado

BOULDER, Colo. — The man charged for injuring a dozen people in Boulder, Colorado in an attack on a group demonstrating for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza went disguised as a gardener and told police his initial plan was to kill them all.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, faces hate crime charges in federal court and attempted murder and other charges in state court.

Soliman — whose first name also was spelled Mohammed in some court documents — had 18 Molotov cocktails but threw just two during Sunday's attack in which he yelled ''Free Palestine,'' police said. He didn't carry out his full plan ''because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before,'' police wrote in an affidavit.

The two incendiary devices he did throw into the group of about 20 people were enough to injure more than half of them, and authorities said he expressed no regrets about the attack.

What's next for the suspect?

Soliman was being held Tuesday on a $10 million, cash-only bond, according to prosecutors. He's due back in a Boulder County courtroom Thursday. More charges are possible in federal court, where the Justice Department will seek a grand jury indictment.

Public defender Kathryn Herold is representing Soliman. She declined to comment after Monday's hearing where he officially was charged.

Soliman was born in Egypt and he moved three years ago to Colorado Springs, where he lived with his wife and five children, according to state court documents. He previously spent 17 years living in Kuwait.

He was living in the U.S. illegally after entering the country in August 2022 on a B2 visa that expired in February 2023, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on the social platform X.

Immigration agents on Tuesday were taking Soliman's wife and five children into custody, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a post on X. Federal officials also are investigating whether any of his family members knew about his plan, Noem wrote in the post.

What was the motive behind the attack?

Soliman told the police he was driven by a desire ''to kill all Zionist people,'' according to an FBI affidavit. Zionism is a reference to the movement to establish and protect a Jewish state in Israel.

Sunday's attack at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall in downtown Boulder had been planned for more than a year and specifically targeted what Soliman described as a ''Zionist group,'' authorities said in court papers charging him with a federal hate crime.

That charge carries a sentence of life in prison when it includes attempted murder. Colorado state charges include 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of using an incendiary device and 16 counts of attempted use of an incendiary device.

The attack came on the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot and as the Israel-Hamas war continues to inflame global tensions. The war has contributed to a spike in antisemitism in the United States. The Boulder attack was barely a week after a man who also yelled ''Free Palestine'' was charged with fatally shooting two Israeli Embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington.

''This attack was not random. It was a deliberate hate crime against the Jewish community that was planned for months," Sen. John Hickenlooper said Tuesday on Senate floor in the U.S. Capitol referring to Boulder attack.

''The scope of that hatred is unconscionable,'' continued Hickenlooper, a Colorado Democrat. ''These were men and women who dedicated their time to advocating for innocent hostages, who have been now held in captivity for over 600 days.''

Who are the demonstrators?

The 12 people hurt in the attack are demonstrators with Run for Their Lives. The events have been staged globally since 2023 and call for Hamas to release Israeli hostages. Organizers say the walk in Boulder was the first in which they have faced violence.

The weekly demonstration Sunday was wrapping up when the crowd was attacked with a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails, authorities said.

Police liaisons assigned to the victims said none were ready to speak Monday with reporters. They range in age from 52 to 88, and their injuries spanned from serious to minor.

Three people remained hospitalized Tuesday at the UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, spokesperson Kelli Christensen said. Christensen declined to provide information on their conditions and said they are currently declining media interviews and have requested privacy.

U.S. supporters of the Israeli hostages say they're scared but have vowed to keep demonstrating.

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Rodriguez reported from San Francisco.