The Colorado demonstration firebombed by a lunatic “terrorist” Sunday was a peaceful “humanitarian” walk to raise support for the hostages still held captive by Hamas — and was never meant to have any political implications, members of the attacked group told The Post.
“This was a humanitarian walk. This was not a protest,” said Rachel Amaru, a member of the Boulder Run For Their Lives chapter. “I’m distraught.”
Amaru’s group was holding its weekly walk for the hostages in Boulder just after 1 p.m., when a man started hurling Molotov cocktails into the crowd — injuring eight victims between 52 and 88 years old. At least one was left in critical condition with serious burn wounds.
The suspect — who was screaming anti-Israeli rhetoric and “Free Palestine,” while calling the walkers child-murderers — was taken into custody at the scene, and identified by the FBI as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45.
Aaron Brooks, a regular with Run for Their Lives, showed up just after the attack, where he discovered a “completely chaotic” scene.
“I saw smoke, I saw blood,” Brooks said.
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Soliman – just 10 feet away from him – yelled: “You burned our people,” he told The Post.
Soliman was “still yelling,” when he approached the attacker who had a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails, Brooks said.
“Why the f–k did you do this,” he asked the suspect.
“I was yelling at a crazy person who just burned my friends,” Brooks added.
FBI Director Kash Patel quickly called the incident “a targeted terror attack.”
Boulder Run For Their Lives is a chapter of the national Run For Their Lives group, which has been holding weekly walks since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The group encourages members to host short walks or runs, where participants peacefully carry flags of the remaining hostages’ nations and in support of Israel.
Boulder’s chapter has been hosting walks since November 2023, and Sunday’s was its 81st event.
Miri Kornfeld, the lead organizer of the Boulder chapter, said Soliman knew where the last stop on the walk was and was waiting for the group, armed with his makeshift firebombs.
“This is obviously premeditated,” Kornfeld told The Post. “He was waiting for them at that spot. He knew that this was the end spot of the walk.”
“It’s just the antisemitic intent of trying to target a group of people who peacefully walk every single week,” she added. “They don’t engage. This isn’t a rally. This isn’t a protest, this isn’t a riot. This is a peaceful walk. They walk silently every week with the posters of the hostages.”
The walks often include “kids and older people,” so Brooks said he tries “to keep an eye out” and protect the event.
He tried to sound the alarm about a possible attack on the local Jewish community as antisemitic agitators have ramped up their rhetoric, he added.
Brooks told The Post that he has been called a “Zionazi” and “baby killer” for “speaking up and supporting Israel” at Boulder’s city council meetings.
“I keep my head on a swivel,” said the 55-year-old.
Amaru said the Boulder chapter has been hosting the walks every week since November 2023.
“It was a terrorist attack on a humanitarian walk that has been nothing other than peaceful since November 2023,” said Amaru, who was out of town Sunday and not present for the attack.
“I’m distraught. My heart has been with the hostages.”
Footage from the attack showed a terrifying scene.
“They are killers! How many children you killed?” the shirtless suspect screamed while prowling about the chaos he’d caused.
Nearby, a woman lay limp on the ground as bystanders doused her with water, while others encircled the suspect and tried to talk him down.
The elderly woman, who was a first time participant in the walk, had to be rolled on the ground after she was lit on fire by the suspect.
“She caught on fire and sustained some pretty terrible burns,” Kornfeld said.
Her husband was also wounded as was a mother and daughter pair, she said.
“End Zionists!” the suspect yelled, before heavily-armed police finally arrived and pinned him to the ground.
The FBI is investigating the fiery attack as an act of terrorism.
“As a result of these preliminary facts, it is clear that this is a targeted act of violence and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism,” FBI Denver Special Agent Mark Michalek said.
Brooks, who went shopping for a bulletproof vest only a week ago, was defiant.
“I’m not the proverbial weak-kneed Jew,” he said. “We should be proud Jews.”
Sunday’s attack surfaced memories of his grandfather, who escaped the pogroms of eastern Europe to emigrate to the land of the free.
“Now I’m even more determined as a Jew to make sure that I keep my promise to my grandfather: Never again,” he said. “I never knew what ‘never again’ really meant – until now.”
