On June 1 in Boulder, a man armed with Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower attacked a peaceful solidarity walk at the Pearl Street Mall, leaving multiple people badly burned and the community shaken. Witnesses say he shouted political slogans as he set fire to innocent civilians, turning a sunny downtown into a scene of terror and chaos. This was not random violence — it was a calculated, ideologically driven assault on people exercising their freedoms.
Tragically, one of the victims, an 82-year-old woman who was badly burned, later died from her injuries, turning what began as senseless violence into a lasting loss for her family and for Boulder. We should be furious that a grandmother’s life was snuffed out in the middle of our streets while elites debate language and motive. The human cost here demands accountability, not equivocation.
Authorities have identified the suspect as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who allegedly planned and carried out the attack with multiple incendiary devices and a gasoline-soaked sprayer. Reports indicate he entered the country on a visitor visa, applied for asylum, and had been living in Colorado, raising urgent questions about how dangerous people slip through the cracks of our immigration system. Americans deserve to know how someone with a history of alarming behavior obtained and kept access to our communities.
The FBI has described the incident as a targeted terror attack, and investigators are treating it as a potential hate crime because the suspect specifically attacked a group identified with Israel. When federal investigators call something terrorism, it should be treated as terrorism — not softened into nuance by politicians worried about optics. We must name evil for what it is and respond with the full force of the law.
This attack lays bare the catastrophic consequences of lax border and immigration enforcement and a broken asylum system that can be exploited by ideological extremists. Homeland Security and ICE reportedly moved quickly to detain the suspect’s family and review visas, but these reactive measures cannot substitute for sensible, preventative policy that protects American citizens first. If we truly value safety, Washington must stop prioritizing political theater over secure borders and rigorous vetting.
Local responses have been muddled, with some leaders reluctant to call this antisemitic and others minimizing the motive as merely “anti-Zionist” rather than violent, targeted hatred. That moral fog provides cover for radicals and excuses their violence; it’s time for clear moral clarity from our elected officials. Communities need leaders who will stand with victims and Jewish neighbors, not triangulate language to appease activists.
Hardworking Americans demand justice for the victims, tougher penalties for ideologically motivated violence, and policies that stop violent actors before they strike. Support our law enforcement and federal investigators as they pursue every charge, and demand that elected officials finally deliver real border security, stricter asylum vetting, and meaningful consequences for hate-driven terrorism. We mourn the victims and we will not let their suffering become another footnote while the left cowers from calling terror what it is.
