How the Boulder fire attack unfolded: Calm, confusion, chaos — ‘he’s out to kill us’

The Pearl Street Mall on Sunday afternoon was so picture perfect a bluebird sky Boulder shoppers dipping in and out of brick buildings children playing in a splash pad that bystanders didn t recognize the first flashes of flame as dangerous Edgar Depaz saw fire burst from a gardener s weed sprayer and assumed it was an accident that the man s equipment was malfunctioning Chloe Weber visiting the splash pad with her son thought someone had self-immolated in protest Lynn Segal heard the rush of fire and thought of the entertainers who sometimes perform on the mall Rick Holter assumed someone was burning a flag in protest The blaze did not invoke the same gut-dropping panic of gunshots in a crowded residents square Even the sight of a shirtless man holding two glass bottles and screaming didn t cause immediate dismay Boulder s a funky town and there s invariably somebody on the Pearl Street Mall announced Denver real estate agent Andi Leahey I didn t realize until we were literally feet away from him that this guy means business he s out to kill The following account of the six-minute fire attack that injured people Sunday during a demonstration in patronage of Israeli hostages is based on multiple witness interviews a police affidavit federal court records and video taken by bystanders at the scene From calm to chaos The man dressed as a gardener seemed like he was just doing his job in front of the old Boulder County Courthouse at th and Pearl streets He wore an orange vest and a commercial-grade weed sprayer on his back Those around him did not know the weed sprayer was filled with gasoline or that the nearby black container with a yellow top held at least unlit Molotov cocktails wine bottles and Ball jars filled with gas red rags tucked into them as fuses They didn t know the man police later identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman had dressed as a gardener only to get close to the or so people who d come to Boulder s celebrated pedestrian mall on Sunday to advocate for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas They didn t know the suspect had planned his attack for more than a year switching from plotting a shooting to throwing firebombs when he was blocked from buying a gun officers allege When Soliman arrived in front of the Boulder courthouse at five till he just looked like a landscaper Five blocks away people were gathering outside Spruce Confections the corner of Pearl and Eighth streets for the weekly Run for Their Lives demonstration A volunteer organization that formed in the wake of the Oct attack in which the terrorist organization Hamas abducted hundreds of Israeli hostages Run for Their Lives has chapters in communities across the country including Denver and Boulder revealed Miri Kornfeld a volunteer leader for the group The march started at p m Sunday The walkers carried signs and flags but were silent no chanting or melodizing Segal reported She s a supporter of Palestinians and not invariably fully welcomed by the pro-Israel marchers When they walk she trails behind them by a meager feet a compromise that has evolved over time with her steady attendance There are no chants Kornfeld noted There is no rioting They walk quietly and peacefully We even tell people if we get hecklers don t engage It is just about raising awareness of the hostages The group walked the length of the mall then looped back to the historic courthouse where the participants usually pause for speeches or to read the names of the hostages Segal took a seat near the fountain toward the back a decision she s grateful for now She didn t notice the suspect before the fire She didn t hear any shouting or spot a conflict It took me by surprise she announced She saw two long blasts of fire He shot like this -foot-long line of fire Segal stated It was just kind of surreal He was a ball of fire Across the street with his family Depaz heard a crash an explosion screaming and a plume of thick black smoke across the way Then he saw Soliman catch fire He was a ball of fire Depaz declared He lit on fire altogether Soliman stripped off his burning shirt and shed the weed sprayer Depaz a Firestone resident ran toward the scene and noticed a broken bottle on the ground with liquid oozing out Then he started yelling at everybody saying they lit his family on fire so he s going to light them on fire Depaz reported That s when he realized the situation was no accident He turned and ran the other direction It happened super fast Depaz announced There was no way anybody could have changed the outcome of that He did what he did so fast that there was no reaction time He just looked like he was doing a job until he just started going crazy and lighting stuff on fire At the splash pad Weber heard shouts and turned to see an approximately -foot ring of fire and a person lying down in the middle of it motionless and burning I saw somebody down lying in the flames that didn t seem to be moving Weber declared She realized it wasn t a self-immolation when she saw what she described as a fire bomb thrown about to feet east of the fire She couldn t see who threw it but knew then that there was someone wanting to harm others It wasn t a big boom but it was enough to know that it wasn t just somebody who lit themselves on fire Weber mentioned It was clear somebody had harmed these poor people and was looking to do more harm potentially Weber grabbed her son and hurriedly left the area She called at p m Leahey the real estate agent disclosed she watched Soliman set bottles on fire and throw them He was literally throwing fire in any direction she mentioned One bottle hit a woman who was about feet from Leahey burning her leg She was in bad shape Leahey announced It took us a minute to process There s something extremely dangerous here Casualties writhing in pain Screams Dozens of people running around The stench of burning fuel People s skin melting off their bodies Segal became very aware of her pro-Palestinian T-shirt and small flag She was torn between rushing to the sufferers or getting to safety She opted ultimately to walk away she didn t want to be confused for the attacker This video still shows a man identified by police as Mohamed Sabry Soliman holding Molotov cocktails in front of the Boulder County Courthouse on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder on Sunday June Video still via Brian Horwitz After the first blitz Soliman shirtless and clutching a Molotov cocktail in each fist paced over burning grass and a blackened burning bottle on the ground outside the courthouse video taken by Brian Horwitz shows We have to end Zionists Soliman shouted Not here bro someone answered As Soliman paced and bystanders called demonstrators poured water over a person curled up on the ground Horwitz s video shows He filmed the scene for a bit then he jumped into action to help the elderly sufferers whose clothes were incinerated off their bodies and whose skin was coming off in sheets he announced Horwitz located a bucket on the ground filled it with water at a nearby fountain and began dousing burn casualties with water I literally remember pivoting numerous times trying to figure out what I could possibly do and also keeping in the back of my mind there s this guy who could be throwing a bomb really any second Horwitz stated The sufferers seemed in a daze Horwitz reported A few writhed in pain while others worried about their friends who were burned worse The Jewish public have been warning people about this for so long Horwitz mentioned noting his family is Jewish It s just shrugged off and it possibly will be after this week as well It s very scary at the prospect of what this means for me and my wife s children and my friends children and what the habitat is going to be like for them growing up A sparse minutes before the attack he watched the march go by as they sat down to eat lunch on a patio He d been interested in joining their cause before but feared manageable retaliation I guess that fear was warranted Horwitz announced This video still shows a man identified by police as Mohamed Sabry Soliman right being handcuffed by an officer in front of the Boulder County Courthouse on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder on Sunday June Video still via Brian Horwitz Antisemitic nature of the attack The first police officer to arrive forthwith ordered Soliman to the ground at gunpoint Soliman dropped the Molotov cocktails and obeyed He was handcuffed at about p m six minutes after the attack started Related Articles Colorado s Jewish state lawmakers decry antisemitism in Boulder attack We must confront hate forcefully Antisemitic terror attack on Boulder s Pearl Street Mall planned for a year FBI says new sufferers located What we know about the Pearl Street Mall attack in Boulder people set on fire in targeted act of violence on Boulder s Pearl Street Mall Later he informed investigators he d thrown just two of his Molotov cocktails because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before according to a police affidavit Twelve people were hurt Boulder police stated One elderly woman s clothing badly caught on fire Kornfeld disclosed and the group rolled her body to try to put out the flames Kornfeld substantiated one of the casualties who has been published from the hospital was a Holocaust survivor Soliman an Egyptian citizen who administration say was living in the Colorado Springs area illegally faces state and federal criminal charges that could keep him in prison for life As of Monday Kornfeld noted two people remained in the hospital Out of all the Run for Their Lives chapters across the country this is the only time the groups have faced violence she revealed This was as peaceful as it could have gotten especially in Boulder Kornfeld reported Boulder is the bastion of humanitarianism in Colorado and it just shows the antagonistic antisemitic nature of the attack Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day