What we know about Colorado suspect’s life leading up to antisemitic attack

The 45-year-old suspect brought a homemade flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to attack a Jewish community event, officials say.

For a full year, Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned a violent assault driven by his simmering anger toward Israel and hatred of “Zionists,” he told federal authorities. That plot culminated on Sunday, when the 45-year-old Egyptian national left an iPhone with messages to his wife and five children in his house, drove to downtown Boulder with a homemade flamethrower and Molotov cocktails and attacked demonstrators at a peaceful Jewish event to support hostages in Gaza, according to federal hate crime charging documents. Twelve people were injured in the attack, during which Soliman yelled “Free Palestine,” according to the FBI. He later told authorities that “he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,” an affidavit said. Only one thing held Soliman back from attacking sooner, he told authorities: Waiting for his daughter to graduate high school. A Colorado Springs Gazette article published in April profiled a student matching his daughter’s description as a recipient of a scholarship. According to the article, she described in her scholarship application how her family had immigrated to the US after living in Kuwait, noting that her father had undergone a “difficult surgery” when she was young “that restored his ability to walk.” The girl said the incident inspired her to pursue medical school – a dream that would have been impossible in Kuwait but within reach in America.