Boulder fire bomber pleads guilty to 12 federal charges

The man who killed one person and injured a dozen others in a firebombing attack on demonstrators supporting Israeli hostages in Gaza pleaded guilty to 12 federal charges Thursday morning in Denver, in a deal that appeared to take the death penalty off the table.

U.S. Assistant Attorney Melissa Hindman said that both the government and defense lawyers are asking for Mohamed Sabry Soliman to be sentenced to life plus 50 years.

Soliman, who is already serving a life sentence for state charges in the June 2025 attack, also agreed to drop his motions trying to stop his family from being deported. He had been trying to keep his ex-wife and children in the country to help in his defense case, while his ex-wife has separately sought to remain in the U.S. arguing that she has a claim for asylum. 

Soliman, 46, pleaded guilty to several federal hate crimes, including one that resulted in death. Wearing a brown T-shirt and khaki pants, Soliman sat at a table with his three lawyers, his arms and legs shackled.

A section of the courtroom gallery reserved for victims was full. Boulder police chief Stephen Redfearn sat in the back row behind them.

Soliman lit two Molotov cocktails and threw them at members of Run for Their Lives as they gathered on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall, injuring more than a dozen people, including a Holocaust survivor.

The group had been gathering weekly in downtown Boulder for nearly two years to raise awareness of the Israeli hostages kidnapped during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

An 82-year-old woman, Karen Diamond, was burned in the attack and died three weeks later of her injuries. She was active in Boulder’s Jewish community and civic organizations and had run the Bolder Boulder race days before the attack. 

In May, Soliman was sentenced to life in prison plus over 2,000 more years immediately after pleading guilty to first-degree murder and dozens of other state charges. 

At his sentencing, he apologized for his actions and expressed sympathy for the victims who spoke in court. But he rejected the idea that he hated Jewish people and said instead that he was against Zionism, calling it an “enemy.”

This is a developing story that will be updated.