Man assaults Colorado crowd with incendiary devices, 8 individuals hurt.

Eight people were injured on Sunday when a 45-year-old man yelled “Free Palestine” and threw incendiary devices into a crowd in Boulder, Colorado where a demonstration to remember the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza was taking place, authorities said.

Four women and four men between 52 and 88 years old were transported to hospitals, Boulder police said. Authorities had earlier put the count of the injured at six and said at least one of them was in a critical condition.

“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,” the FBI special agent in charge of the Denver Field Office, Mark Michalek, said.

Michalek identified the suspect as Mohamed Soliman, who was admitted to the hospital shortly following the assault. Reuters was unable to promptly find contact details for him or his relatives.

FBI Director Kash Patel labeled the event a “deliberate terror attack,” while Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser noted it seemed “a hate crime based on the group targeted.” Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn stated that he did not think anyone else was involved.

The assault occurred at the Pearl Street Mall, a well-known shopping area for pedestrians near the University of Colorado, during an event held by Run for Their Lives, a group focused on raising awareness about the hostages taken after Hamas’s 2023 offensive on Israel.

In a statement, the group mentioned that the walks have taken place weekly since then for the hostages, “without any violent occurrences until now.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked in a statement that the victims were assaulted “merely due to being Jews” and that he believed U.S. authorities would ensure “the cold-blooded perpetrator is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law”.

“The antisemitic attacks around the world are a direct result of blood libels against the Jewish state and people, and this must be stopped,” he said.

In a post to X, a social network, Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Soliman had overstayed his visa and been allowed to work by the previous administration. He said it was further evidence of the need to “fully reverse” what he described as “suicidal migration.”