Police in the United States have arrested a male suspect after at least six people were wounded at an outdoor mall in the town of Boulder, Colorado, in an incident the FBI immediately described as a “targeted terror attack”.
The assault took place on Sunday as demonstrators with a volunteer group called Run For Their Lives gathered to raise attention to the plight of Israeli captives who remain in Gaza.
The suspect, identified as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, yelled, “Free Palestine”, and used a makeshift flamethrower in the attack, according to Mark Michalek, an FBI special agent.
Soliman was taken into custody.
No charges were immediately announced but officials said they expect to hold him “fully accountable”.
Soliman was also injured and was taken to hospital to be treated, but authorities did not elaborate on the nature of his injuries.
Police in Boulder were more circumspect about a motive.
Police Chief Steve Redfearn said it “would be irresponsible” for him to speculate while witnesses were still being interviewed. But he noted that the group that had gathered in support of the captives had assembled peacefully and that the victims’ injuries – ranging from serious to minor – were consistent with them having been set on fire.
The victims were aged 67 to 88, the police said.
“This was a beautiful Sunday afternoon in downtown Boulder on Pearl Street, and this act was unacceptable,” Redfearn added. “I ask that you join me in thinking about the victims, the families of those victims, and everyone involved in this tragedy.”
The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the US over Israel’s war in Gaza, which has spurred an increase in both anti-Semitic and Islamophobic violence.
The US is Israel’s staunchest ally, arming a military that has killed more than 54,000 people in Gaza, most of whom are women and children, and imposed a blockade that has left some 2.3 million people on the verge of famine. Hamas, meanwhile, continues to hold some 58 people it took captive during the Palestinian group’s attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023.
Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington, DC, said investigations were continuing in Boulder, which is located northwest of the city of Denver.
“The police received initial reports of people being set on fire at a march that has happened every weekend for the last year in support of those being held captive in Gaza,” Fisher said.
“There was a man who was pictured on social media who seemed to be carrying what appears to be two bottles of liquid, and locals are saying that that was essentially petrol bombs, Molotov cocktails, which were thrown at the crowd”, he said.
“The police have confirmed that some of the injuries are serious,” Fisher added. “At least two people, we are told locally, have been taken to hospital by helicopter.”
Brooke Coffman, a 19-year-old at the University of Colorado who witnessed the attack, said she saw four women lying or sitting on the ground with burns on their legs. One of them appeared to have been badly burned on most of her body and had been wrapped in a flag by someone, she said.
She described seeing a man whom she presumed to be the attacker standing in the courtyard shirtless, holding a glass bottle of clear liquid and shouting.
“Everybody is yelling, ‘Get water, get water’,” Coffman said.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis said in a statement that he was “closely monitoring” the situation, adding that “hate-filled acts of any kind are unacceptable”.
Boulder’s Jewish community also condemned the attack.
“We are saddened and heartbroken to learn that an incendiary device was thrown at walkers at the Run for Their Lives walk on Pearl Street as they were raising awareness for the hostages still held in Gaza,” members of the community said in a statement.
