DENVER — Federal prosecutors are expected to lay out their evidence on Wednesday against a man who told investigators he was driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people” when he threw Molotov cocktails at demonstrators raising awareness of Israeli hostages.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, is scheduled to appear in federal court in Denver for a preliminary hearing on a hate crime charge stemming from the June 1 attack in Boulder. Investigators say he planned it for a year.
He has also been charged in state court in Boulder with attempted murder and assault counts as well as crimes related to the 18 other Molotov cocktails police say he did not use.
Soliman is represented by public defenders in both federal and state court who do not comment on their cases to the media.
Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, has been living in the U.S. illegally.
Investigators say Soliman told them he had intended to kill all of the roughly 20 participants at the weekly demonstration on Boulder’s popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall, but he threw just two of his 18 Molotov cocktails while yelling “Free Palestine.” Soliman told investigators he tried to buy a gun but was not able to because he was not a “legal citizen.”
Soliman did not carry out his full plan “because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before,” police wrote in an arrest affidavit.