Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 47, an Egyptian national, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to a hate crime resulting in death, eight more hate crime charges and three explosives charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado said. He admitted he carried out the June 1, 2025 attack because of the actual or perceived Jewish religion and Israeli national origin of the group he targeted.

According to the plea agreement, Soliman threw two lit Molotov cocktails at members of the Boulder chapter of Run for Their Lives, a group that organized walks in cities across the country to raise awareness for the hostages held after the October 7, 2023 attack in Israel. The group was gathered in front of the historic Boulder County Courthouse on the Pearl Street Mall. The Justice Department says he yelled a slogan about Palestine as he threw them.

Soliman admitted his intent was to kill as many people as possible, the department said. He bought components and built over a dozen Molotov cocktails, glass jars filled with gasoline and stuffed with rags as wicks, along with a weed sprayer backpack filled with gasoline, much of which he did not successfully deploy. Boulder police arrested him at the scene.

The attack killed Karen Sorin Diamond, who suffered severe burns to every part of her body and died after more than three weeks of painful treatment in the hospital, the department said. Seven other people were injured, several of them severely burned, including Diamond's husband, who spent weeks recovering. Boulder County says Diamond was 82 and that a dog was also wounded.

U.S. Attorney Peter McNeilly said the attack was antisemitic by Soliman's own admissions and that there is no place for antisemitism in America. Special Agent in Charge Amanda Koldjeski of the FBI Denver Field Office said the chaos the defendant inflicted spread far beyond Pearl Street. District Attorney Michael Dougherty, whose office prosecuted the state charges including the murder of Diamond and the attempted murder of the other victims, called the plea another important step toward justice for the victims, their families and the community.

Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane presided over the hearing. Sentencing is set for January 7, 2027.