Mohamed Soliman has pleaded guilty to 12 federal charges over a firebombing attack on a pro-Israel demonstration in Boulder, Colorado, which killed one person and injured more than a dozen others.
Soliman admitted in federal court that he targeted the group because of the victims’ actual or perceived Jewish religion and Israeli national origins. He had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The attack took place during a peaceful gathering organised by Run for Their Lives, a group which had marched through Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall each Sunday for more than a year in support of Israeli captives held by Hamas.
Prosecutors said Soliman threw two Molotov cocktails at the demonstrators. Karen Sorin Diamond later died from injuries suffered in the attack.
Federal hate crime charges
The charges to which Soliman pleaded guilty included one count of hate crime resulting in death, seven counts involving bodily injury and an intent to kill, and a further hate crime charge involving an explosive or incendiary device.
He also admitted two counts of using fire or an explosive to commit a felony, as well as carrying an explosive during the commission of a felony.
Peter McNeilly, the US Attorney for the District of Colorado, said the federal case was significant because it established the motive prosecutors said lay behind the violence.
“The federal case holds Mohamed Soliman responsible for the hateful ideology that drove his violent acts in June 2025 in Boulder, Colorado,” Mr McNeilly said. “He has pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes, which accounts for the fact that he was motivated by the fact that he thought these people were Jewish and Israeli, and that is why he did violence that day.”
Mr McNeilly added: “Anti-Semitism erodes the common ties that bind our great nation together, and there is no place for it in America.”
Soliman had already pleaded guilty to more than 100 state charges, including first-degree murder. In May, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder conviction, along with a further 2,128 years for the other state offences.
Survivors describe continuing trauma
Ed Victor, a survivor of the attack, said he had recorded the time when Soliman finally entered his guilty plea.
“I’m always nervous for someone to say, ‘No’ until they finally say, ‘Yes,’ so it’s just like finally to get to that element was… you know… I wrote down the time when he said, ‘Guilty,’” he said.
Another survivor, Aaron Brooks, said he continued to think about friends affected by the attack and wanted to support those who still felt unsafe.
“I still think about my friends that went through it. I still think about Karen Diamond. I don’t think that will ever go away,” he said.
Susan Rona, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Mountain States, said the guilty plea confirmed that the victims had been targeted because they were Jewish.
“No legal outcome can bring back Karen Sorin Diamond, who died from injuries she suffered in the attack, or undo the trauma the attacker inflicted on the other survivors and the Boulder Jewish community,” she said.
The judge has not yet decided Soliman’s sentence on the federal charges. Prosecutors and his defence team have requested life in prison plus 50 years, although the judge said sentencing guidelines were advisory and might not be followed.
Sentencing is scheduled for 10am on 7 January 2027.
