FBI: Boulder attack on activists for Israeli hostages a ‘targeted act of terrorism’

Boulder police says multiple people evacuated with burn injuries; suspect apprehended

Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn holds a press conference on the reported attack targeting a gathering of pro-Israel activists in the Colorado city earlier this afternoon.

He says that at 1:26 p.m. local time, police received calls that there was a “man with a weapon” near the county courthouse on 13th and Pearl St. and that “people were being set on fire.”

When police arrived at the scene shortly thereafter, they encountered “multiple victims” with injuries “consistent with burns,” Redfearn says.

Witnesses at the scene told CBS Colorado that the suspect attacked people with Molotov cocktails who were participating in a walk to remember the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza.

CBS cites witnesses who saw the suspect attack people with Molotov cocktails while they were participating in a weekly walk to raise awareness for the hostages in Gaza.

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The victims were evacuated to a nearby Boulder Community Health medical center for treatment, says the local police chief, adding that a number of them apparently suffered “life-threatening” injuries.

Shortly after arriving on the scene, a suspect was pointed out to officers who managed to apprehend him, Redfearn says.

The suspect is an adult male and was taken to a nearby hospital after sustaining minor injuries of his own in the incident, the police chief says, declining to identify him further.

Redfearn confirms that a pro-Israel “peaceful demonstration” was taking place in the area, as it frequently does.

However, he stresses that police are still gathering information roughly three hours after the attack and are still working to determine whether the pro-Israel group was specifically targeted.

Asked whether he would classify the incident as a “terror attack” the way that FBI director Kash Patel has, Redfearn says it would be “irresponsible to speculate on motive at this point.”

The police chief clarifies that if it is later determined that the pro-Israel gathering was targeted, security for it would be stepped up moving forward.

He adds that the scene of the attack has not yet been declared safe yet and that there is a vehicle of interest that is still being probed.

The incident takes place less than two weeks after a pair of Israeli embassy staffers were shot dead outside an American Jewish Committee event in Washington.