BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A person with a makeshift flamethrower yelled “Free Palestine” and hurled an incendiary gadget into a bunch that had assembled to lift consideration for Israeli hostages in Gaza, regulation enforcement officers mentioned Sunday. Eight folks have been injured, some with burns.

The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, was booked into the Boulder County jail north of Denver and anticipated to face expenses in reference to the assault the FBI was investigating as a terrorist act. On-line data didn’t instantly present when he would make a court docket look.

The burst of violence on the common Pearl Road pedestrian mall, a four-block space in downtown Boulder, unfolded towards the backdrop of a conflict between Israel and Hamas that continues to inflame world tensions and has contributed to a spike in antisemitic violence in the USA. The assault occurred on the start of the Jewish vacation of Shavuot, which is marked with the studying of the Torah and barely every week after a person who additionally yelled “Free Palestine” was charged with fatally taking pictures two Israeli embassy staffers exterior of a Jewish museum in Washington.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a press release Monday saying he, his spouse and the whole nation of Israel have been praying for the total restoration of the folks wounded within the “vicious terror assault” in Colorado.

“This assault was aimed towards peaceable individuals who wished to precise their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, just because they have been Jews,” Netanyahu mentioned.

Throughout the U.S., the New York Police Division mentioned it has upped its presence at spiritual websites all through town for Shavuot.

“Sadly, assaults like this have gotten too frequent throughout the nation,” mentioned Mark Michalek, the particular agent accountable for the FBI’s Denver discipline workplace, which encompasses Boulder. “That is an instance of how perpetrators of violence proceed to threaten communities throughout the nation.”

The eight victims who have been wounded vary in age from 52 to 88 and the accidents spanned from severe to minor, officers mentioned.

The assault occurred as folks with a volunteer group referred to as Run For Their Lives was concluding their weekly demonstration to lift visibility for the hostages who stay in Gaza. Video from the scene reveals a witness shouting, “He’s proper there. He’s throwing Molotov cocktails,” as a police officer together with his gun drawn advances on a bare-chested suspect who’s holding containers in every hand.

Alex Osante of San Diego mentioned he was having lunch on a restaurant patio throughout the pedestrian mall when he heard the crash of a bottle breaking on the bottom, a “growth” sound adopted by folks yelling and screaming.

In video of the scene captured by Osante, folks may very well be seen pouring water on a lady mendacity on the bottom who Osante mentioned had caught on hearth through the assault. A person, who later recognized himself as an Israeli visiting Boulder who determined to hitch the group that day, ran as much as Osante on the video asking for some water to assist.

After the preliminary assault, Osante mentioned the suspect went behind some bushes after which re-emerged and threw a Molotov cocktail however apparently by accident caught himself on hearth as he threw it. The person then took off his shirt and what seemed to be a bulletproof vest earlier than the police arrived. The person dropped to the bottom and was arrested with none obvious resistance within the video that Osante filmed.

As folks tried to assist the girl on the bottom, one other girl who seemed to be a participant within the occasion yelled to others out of the digital camera’s view, defending their trigger, saying they don’t discuss in regards to the authorities however simply discuss in regards to the hostages.

Lynn Segal, 72, was amongst about 20 individuals who gathered Sunday. That they had completed their march in entrance of the courthouse when a “rope of fireside” shot in entrance of her after which “two huge flares.”

She mentioned the scene rapidly turned chaotic as folks labored to seek out water to place out flames and discover assist.

Segal, who mentioned she is Jewish on her father’s facet and has supported Palestine for greater than 40 years, was involved that she could be accused of serving to the suspect as a result of she was sporting a pro-Palestine shirt.

“There have been individuals who have been burning, I needed to assist,” she mentioned. “However I didn’t wish to be related to the perpetrator.”

Authorities didn’t disclose particulars about Soliman however mentioned they consider that he acted alone and that no different suspect was being sought. No prison expenses have been instantly introduced however officers mentioned they might transfer to carry Soliman accountable. He was additionally injured and was taken to the hospital to be handled, however authorities didn’t elaborate on the character of his accidents.

FBI leaders instantly declared the assault an act of terrorism and the Justice Division denounced it as a “pointless act of violence, which follows current assaults towards Jewish Individuals.”

“This act of terror is being investigated as an act of ideologically motivated violence based mostly on the early info, the proof, and witness accounts. We’ll converse clearly on these incidents when the info warrant it,” FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino mentioned in a put up on X.

Israel’s conflict in Gaza started when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 folks, largely civilians, and abducting about 250 others. They’re nonetheless holding 58 hostages, round a 3rd believed to be alive, after many of the relaxation have been launched in ceasefire agreements or different offers.

Israel’s army marketing campaign has killed over 54,000 folks in Hamas-run Gaza, largely ladies and kids, in accordance with Gaza’s Well being Ministry, which doesn’t say how lots of the useless have been civilians or combatants. The offensive has destroyed huge areas, displaced round 90% of the inhabitants and left folks virtually fully reliant on worldwide support.

The violence comes 4 years after a taking pictures rampage at a grocery retailer in Boulder, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Denver, that killed 10 folks. The gunman was sentenced to life in jail for homicide after a jury rejected his try and keep away from jail time by pleading not responsible by cause of madness.

A number of blocks of the pedestrian mall space have been evacuated by police. The scene shortly after the assault was tense, as regulation enforcement brokers with a police canine walked by the streets in search of threats and instructed the general public to remain away from the mall.

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This story has been up to date to appropriate that 10 folks, not 4, have been killed within the Boulder grocery retailer taking pictures.

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Related Press journalists Brittany Peterson and David Zalubowski in Boulder, Colorado, Kimberlee Kruesi in Windfall, Rhode Island, Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, Alanna Durkin Richer and Michael Biesecker in Washington and Jim Mustian in New York contributed to this report.