Boulder suspect potentially faces murder charges over attack on Jewish event in Colorado – live | Colorado
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Boulder attack suspect booked on multiple charges, including felony use of incendiary devices
The suspect in the attack in Boulder is in custody after being booked in the county jail just before midnight on multiple felony charges including one count of explosives or incendiary devices used during a felony, and two counts of first degree assault and crimes against at risk adults or elderly people, according to CNN.
He also faces being potentially charged with two counts of first-degree murder, NBC News reports, though the circumstances around those charges are unclear, as authorities have not announced any deaths resulting from the attack.
The suspect has a court date scheduled for later today at 1:30pm MDT.
Key events
Trump to speak to Xi Jinping 'very soon' in call likely to take place this week
Donald Trump is expected to have a direct conversation with Chinese president Xi Jinping in the coming days after his outburst last week accusing Beijing of “totally violating” an interim trade deal reached by the two countries in Geneva last month. According to CNBC the call will come “very soon” but probably not today.
Politico had also reported this morning that cabinet members confirmed yesterday that trade talks with China had slowed but had also hinted at the Trump-Xi conversation likely taking place this week. “That’s our expectation,” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told ABC. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said a call should come “very soon”, telling CBS that China has slow-walked a critical minerals agreement – which was also cited by US trade representative Jamieson Greer last week.
Half of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders faced hate in 2024, study finds
Minnah Arshad
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders faced chilling levels of hate in 2024, a new survey has found, reflecting the impact of a divisive presidential election year that included historic representation and rampant anti-immigrant rhetoric.
The report by Stop AAPI Hate, shared exclusively with the Guardian ahead of its release, shines a light on underreported incidents largely overlooked in government data and national news media. The coalition conducted its second annual survey with Norc at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research organization. Fifty-three percent of respondents said they experienced a race-based hate act in 2024, a small rise from 49% in 2023. Incidents ranged from bullying at school and workplace discrimination to harassment and physical violence.
Four out of every 10 people who faced a hate act said they did not tell anyone, including friends or family. Of those who experienced a potentially unlawful hate act, including explicit threats, physical harm or institutional discrimination, 66% did not report the incident to authorities, often due to the belief that the act wasn’t significant enough or that reporting wouldn’t make a difference.
Grace Meng, a New York Democrat who chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said the coalition’s report helps fill a critical data gap, which she regarded as the largest barrier to government leaders taking action. Awareness of anti-Asian bigotry had increased since a wave of high profile hate crimes during the Covid pandemic, Meng said, but since the general election, perpetrators seem empowered to openly express bigotry.
The coalition’s survey of nearly 1,600 Asian American and Pacific Islander adults took place from 7-15 January, days before Donald Trump’s inauguration. Over 80% of respondents expressed concern about the racial climate.
“Honestly, after this president was elected, many of us were nervous again,” Meng told the Guardian.
Just over four months into Trump’s second term, Meng is ringing the bell on a slew of anti-immigrant actions from secretary of state Marco Rubio last week announcing he will carry out revocations of Chinese students’ visas, to Trump’s attacks on birthright citizenship since his first day in office, and widespread funding cuts for a host of institutions.
Meng said she expects the administration’s rhetoric and actions against immigrant communities to translate into more anti-Asian hate and violence this year.
Suspect's visa had expired and asylum claim was pending, says DHS
Expanding on my last post, the suspect entered the country in August 2022 on a B-2 visa that expired in February 2023, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, has told NBC News.
“The Colorado Terrorist attack suspect, Mohamed Soliman, is illegally in our country,” McLaughlin said in a post on X. “He filed for asylum in September 2022.”
She told NBC News his asylum claim was pending. While his visa had expired, NBC notes, he had not yet exhausted all legal routes to staying in the US.
Boulder suspect's work authorization expired at the end of March - CNN
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the suspect charged in the Boulder attack, arrived in the US in August 2022 as a non-immigrant visitor, CNN reports citing multiple law enforcement officials.
He filed a claim a month later, in September, and was granted a work authorization in March 2023. That authorization expired at the end of March of this year, at which point it appears he remained here illegally, the officials told CNN.
Here is the full story so far from my colleague Adam Gabbatt.
Boulder’s district attorney Michael Dougherty vowed “to hold the attacker fully accountable”.
The victims were aged between 67 and 88 years old, Redfearn confirms.
Four victims were taken to Boulder community hospital, and two additional victims were airlifted to hospital in the Denver metro area. Some of the injuries were minor but one person was in critical condition, he said.
During a press conference this morning, Boulder police chief Stephen Redfearn urged the community to come together in the wake of the attack, adding:
Now is not the time to be divisive.
Boulder attack suspect booked on multiple charges, including felony use of incendiary devices
The suspect in the attack in Boulder is in custody after being booked in the county jail just before midnight on multiple felony charges including one count of explosives or incendiary devices used during a felony, and two counts of first degree assault and crimes against at risk adults or elderly people, according to CNN.
He also faces being potentially charged with two counts of first-degree murder, NBC News reports, though the circumstances around those charges are unclear, as authorities have not announced any deaths resulting from the attack.
The suspect has a court date scheduled for later today at 1:30pm MDT.
Israeli prime minister condemns 'vicious terror attack'
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has this morning condemned the attack on a Jewish community event in Boulder, Colorado and said he prays for the “full recovery of the wounded in the vicious terror attack”.
Yesterday a man used a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to attack an event that was being held in support of the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, according to the FBI. The suspect yelled “Free Palestine!” during the attack, the FBI said.
At least eight people were injured, Boulder police said. The attack came on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.
In comments reported by Israeli media, Netanyahu said:
This attack was aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews.
He said he believes the US will “prosecute the cold-blooded perpetrator to the fullest extent of the law”.
Lawmakers condemn attack on Jewish community event in Colorado
Lawmakers have issued condemnations of violence following yesterday’s attack on a Jewish community event in Boulder.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio said:
Terror has no place in our great country.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish, condemned the attack, calling it a “vile, antisemitic act of terror” against the Jewish community. He went on:
Less than two weeks after the horrific antisemitic attack at the Capitol Jewish Museum in DC - and after two relentless years of surging antisemitic attacks across the country - the Jewish community is once again shattered by pain and heartbreak. Once again, Jews are left reeling from repeated acts of violence and terror.
Thousands of Jews around the world will wake up to this horrific news, just as they did after October 7. For many, it’s been over 600 days of unrelenting fear and trauma.
Elizabeth Warren, Democratic senator for New York, called the attack “terrible” adding: “We all have a responsibility to stop these antisemitic acts.”
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries also said the Jewish community in America had “once again become the target of a horrific, antisemitic attack,” adding that “antisemitism has no place in our nation or anywhere throughout the world”.
New York Democratic congressman Jerry Nadler, who is Jewish, described the attack as “reprehensible and horrific. I unequivocally condemn this deliberate, hate-fuelled act”.
Republican Congressman for Colorado’s eighth district, Gabe Evans, had his own clear message:
Hate has no home in Colorado.
“We are praying for all those affected,” he said and thanked law enforcement for their swift response.
Democratic representative Dan Goldman, from New York, another Jewish lawmaker, said:
This is what happens when antisemitic hate is normalized. This is what happens when too many remain silent in response to antisemitic hate.
