Guilty plea on federal charges in deadly Boulder firebomb attack

The man who already pleaded guilty to more than 100 state criminal charges, including first-degree murder, for an attack on the Pearl Street Mall in June 2025, appeared in federal court on Thursday, where he changed his plea to guilty on a dozen charges. 

Mohamed Soliman admitted to the attack during last summer's demonstration in support of Israeli captives held by Hamas. According to prosecutors, Soliman threw two Molotov cocktails at the group, killing one person and injuring more than a dozen others.

At the time of the attack, the organization known as Run for Their Lives had been marching through downtown Boulder every Sunday for more than a year. Each week, the group marched along the Pearl Street Mall and ended their gathering at the historic Boulder County Courthouse.

Soliman pleaded guilty to state charges in May of this year. The judge handed down a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder conviction, in addition to 2,128 years in prison for the other charges he pleaded guilty to.  

Soliman also faced 12 federal hate crime charges. He appeared before a judge in the Arraj Courthouse for the change-of-plea hearing at 10 a.m. Thursday. The judge found Soliman competent to plead guilty to every count. He had previously pleaded not guilty to the federal charges on June 27, 2025.

The 12 charges include:

• 1 count - hate crime resulting in death - Karen Diamond
• 7 counts - violation of hate crime involving bodily injury and intent to kill - willfully caused bodily injury
• 1 count - hate crime involving attempt to cause bodily injury and attempt to kill - willfully caused bodily injury with an explosive or incendiary device
• 2 counts - using fire or an explosive to commit a felony
• 1 count - carrying explosive during commission of a felony

"Here is why the federal case is important in addition to the state case: The federal case holds Mohamed Soliman responsible for the hateful ideology that drove his violent acts in June 2025 in Boulder, Colorado. He has pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes, which accounts for the fact that he was motivated by the fact that he thought these people were Jewish and Israeli, and that is why he did violence that day," said U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado Peter McNeilly. 

The judge has not made up his mind about sentencing but did say the guidelines are just a guide and he may not follow them. Gov. Polis is requesting life in prison plus 50 years. 

The sentencing has been scheduled for 10 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2027.