The FBI is probing an alleged terrorist attack in Colorado.
The attack took place during an event supporting hostages taken during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the radical Islamic terrorist group Hamas that killed over 1,200 people in Israel, Fox News reported. FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X that the FBI was investigating a “targeted terror attack” in Boulder.
“We are aware of and fully investigating a targeted terror attack in Boulder, Colorado,” Patel posted Sunday evening. “Our agents and local law enforcement are on the scene already, and we will share updates as more information becomes available. @FBI”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek said that 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman had been taken into custody during a press conference held late Sunday evening — and that six victims aged 67 to 88 had been taken to area hospitals, one of whom was “very seriously injured.”
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“This attack happened at a regularly scheduled weekly peaceful event,” Michalek told reporters. “Witnesses are reporting that the subject used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device into the crowd. The suspect was heard to yell free Palestine during the attack.”
Video posted on X showed the alleged attacker shouting “End Zionists” and “Palestine is free!”
Fox News National Correspondent Bill Melugin reported in a post on X that Soliman was in the United States illegally, having entered on a non-immigrant visa in August 2022 and overstaying. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed this report in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“This marks the second violent assault on Jewish and pro-Israel civilians in the U.S. in less than two weeks—a chilling escalation that cannot be dismissed as coincidence. On May 21, two Israeli Embassy staffers were gunned down in cold blood in Washington, D.C., and now the extremist violence has come to Boulder, CO,” Simon Wiesenthal Center CEO Jim Berk said in a statement sent to the DCNF. “Both attacks are the direct result of months of anti-Israel propaganda, moral equivocation, and silence in the face of raging antisemitism. The nonstop demonization of Israel and Zionism on our campuses, in our streets, and across digital platforms has created a climate where hate flourishes, and physical attacks—even murder—of Jews is inevitable.”
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino confirmed personnel were on the scene in a Sunday evening post on X, vowing to also track down those who “aided or abetted this attack.”
“FBI personnel are on the scene in Boulder, Colorado, along with local law enforcement,” Bongino posted. “We are investigating this incident as an act of terror, and targeted violence. All of the necessary assets will be dedicated to this investigation. “If you have any investigative tips please contact the FBI. And if you aided or abetted this attack, we will find you. You cannot hide.”
“When we arrived, we encountered multiple victims … with injuries consistent with burns,” Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn told CNN.
Readfern did not provide an exact number of casualties from the attack, but said some of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries, according to the Denver Post.
“DHS is monitoring the terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado. We are working with our interagency partners, including the @FBI, and will share more information as soon as it becomes available,” Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told the DCNF in a statement. “We are praying for the victims and their families. This violence against must stop.”
Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado also posted on X, sending his thoughts out to the victims of the attack.
“I am closely monitoring the situation in Boulder, and my thoughts go out to the people who have been injured and impacted by this heinous act of terror,” Polis posted. “Hate-filled acts of any kind are unacceptable. While details emerge, the state works with local and federal law enforcement to support this investigation. More information will be provided as it becomes available.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said in a post on X that the National Counterterrorism Center was assisting in the investigation.
“The @ODNIgov’s National Counterterrorism Center is working with the FBI and local law enforcement on the ground investigating the targeted terror attack against a weekly meeting of Jewish community members who had just gathered in Boulder, CO to raise awareness of the hostages kidnapped during Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7,” Gabbard wrote in her post. “Thank you to first responders and local authorities for your quick response and action.”
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
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