Mohamed Soliman changes plea to guilty on federal charges in Boulder firebombing 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. 

"I'm always nervous for someone to say, 'No' until they finally say, 'Yes,' so it's just like finally to get to that element was...you know...I wrote down the time when he said, 'Guilty,'" said Ed Victor a survivor of the attack. 

Mohamed Soliman admitted to the attack during last summer's peaceful 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.

"He admits that he acted because of the actual or perceived Israeli national origins and the actual or perceived Jewish religion of the victims," United States Attorney for the District of Colorado, Peter McNeilly said during a news conference. "Anti-Semitism erodes the common ties that bind our great nation together, and there is no place for it in America."

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.  

"I was there that day, and I told him, 'You're going to jail,' and I want to be here, each time something happens to put him there," said Aaron Brooks, another survivor of the attack. "I still think about my friends that when through it. I still think about Karen Diamon. I don't think that will ever go away. I want to make this about supporting my friends. Many people feel unsafe, and I don't want people to feel unsafe."

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. Prosecutors and Soliman's defense team were requesting life in prison plus 50 years.

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

This statement was provided to CBS Colorado by Susan Rona, the Regional Director of ADL Mountain States, after the change of plea hearing, "The attacker in last year's Boulder, Colorado, firebombing pleaded guilty today to federal hate crime charges, admitting that he targeted people because of their religion or national origin. That admission, made in a federal courtroom, confirms what the facts already showed: This was an antisemitic attack. He planned this act of terror for over a year and targeted people simply because they were Jewish.

"No legal outcome can bring back Karen Sorin Diamond, who died from injuries she suffered in the attack, or undo the trauma the attacker inflicted on the other survivors and the Boulder Jewish community. This plea is an important step toward justice, and we are grateful to the federal prosecutors and law enforcement who pursued it."

Many survivors also mentioned the significance of the admission that this was an attack with motives due to perceived Israeli national origins and the actual or perceived Jewish religion. 

"I know people injured who are still going through that injury. Still the trauma and the emotions that is still continuing, so it's weird. That's what I mean by, 'It's a chapter, but not an ending," Victor added.