Boulder Firebombing Suspect Pleads Guilty to Federal Hate Crimes, Avoiding Death Penalty

Mohamed Soliman, the man who killed a woman and wounded more than a dozen others in a firebombing on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall, pleaded guilty to federal charges on Thursday, in an agreement that spares him a possible death sentence.

Soliman, 46, is already serving a life sentence after pleading guilty in May to more than 100 state crimes connected to the June 1, 2025, attack. On Thursday he added 12 federal convictions: nine hate crime counts and three offenses involving the use of explosives.

Under the plea deal, prosecutors and defense attorneys will jointly ask for a sentence of life in prison plus 50 years on the federal counts, Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Hindman said at the hearing in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. Sentencing is set for Jan. 7.

At a news conference afterward, Peter McNeilly, the U.S. attorney for the District of Colorado, said the federal government will not seek the death penalty. He said the decision was ultimately made by U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, and described the approach as "victim-driven." McNeilly said the victims overwhelmingly wanted a resolution that guarantees life in prison, holds Soliman accountable for a hate-motivated act, brings finality, eliminates any chance of appeal and takes away his platform to "peddle his hateful ideology."

Prosecutors said Soliman used a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails on people gathered at the popular pedestrian mall for a weekly demonstration organized by the local Run For Their Lives chapter. The group was calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas. Fourteen people were burned. Karen Diamond, 82, a member of Boulder's Jewish community, died of her injuries on June 25, 2025. Witnesses said Soliman shouted "Free Palestine" during the attack.

Federal prosecutors brought the hate crime charges on the grounds that Soliman targeted victims because they were Israeli or because he believed they were. His defense attorneys argued early on that the counts were unsupported, saying he intended to target "Zionists" rather than all Israeli people. In his plea, Soliman admitted he targeted the victims because of their real or perceived religion or national origin. Handcuffed and shackled, he answered Senior Judge John Kane's questions calmly through a translator during the roughly hourlong hearing.

Ed Victor, a Jewish victim of the attack, said the admission, particularly on the hate crime counts, brought some relief and closure. "He was targeting us because of who we were at that time," Victor said, adding that the plea showed the attack was antisemitic. He said he was comfortable with prosecutors forgoing the death penalty, in part because it would resolve the federal case much more quickly. Soliman had repeatedly offered to plead guilty to all 12 federal charges if capital punishment was taken off the table.

Soliman was born in Egypt and lived in Kuwait for 17 years. He arrived in the United States in August 2022 on a tourist visa that expired in February 2023, and he sought political asylum in September 2022. He and his family settled in the Colorado Springs area. According to court records, he received permission to stay in the country in February 2023 while his asylum application was pending, and a work permit followed in March 2023.

His now-former wife and five children have faced deportation efforts since the attack, though authorities say the family had no involvement in it and no knowledge he was planning it.