Los Angeles Mayor Bass calls for emergency meeting in wake of Colorado attack
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Mayor Karen Bass is calling for an emergency meeting at City Hall to evaluate security in Los Angeles following what is being described as a "terror" attack on Jewish demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado.
Four women and four men between the ages of 52 and 88 were taken to hospitals in Denver for treatment Sunday after a suspect used a homemade flamethrower and molotov cocktails on a crowd walking in a weekly event to call for the return of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas militants during an attack on Israel Oct. 7, 2023.
"What happened in Boulder, Colorado today -- an especially brutal targeting of elders -- is an atrocious affront to the very fabric of our society and our beliefs here in Los Angeles," Bass said. "This was the second terrorist attack against Jews in two weeks."
Bass noted that the Los Angeles Police Department is conducting extra patrols at houses of worship and community centers throughout the city. The L.A. County Sheriff's Department is also doing the same, out of an abundance of caution.
"Antisemitism will not be tolerated in this city," she said.
The emergency meeting will happen after the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, celebrated from sundown Sunday through sundown Tuesday, to celebrate when Moses and the Israelites were given the Torah at Mount Sinai.
New information has been released about the suspect, 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, after he appeared in court on Monday.
He's charged with 16 counts of attempted murder and a federal hate crime.
Prosecutors revealed in court papers that he had been planning the attack for more than a year. When Soliman was interviewed, investigators say he told them he had no regrets and would go back and do it all again.
Federal authorities said they haven't ruled out terrorism charges.
Cell phone video captured the chaos and panic after the deliberate attack on peaceful protesters in Boulder, Colorado, on Sunday.
"He had three Molotov cocktails, one of them he threw inside a group, and one lady lit on fire from head to toe," witness Alex Osante said.
Investigators have identified 12 victims who were burned during the attack.
"Mr. Solimon stated that he had been planning this attack for a year, and he acted because he hated what he called, 'the zionist group,'" said J. Bishop Grewell, the U.S. attorney for the district of Colorado. "And when he was interviewed about the attack, he said he wanted them all to die. He had no regrets, and he would go back and do it again."
The Department of Homeland Security says Egyptian-born Soliman, who lived in Colorado Springs, is in the country illegally after overstaying a work permit.
"He said that he had previously tried to purchase a firearm, but resorted to the Molotov cocktails when he could not purchase a gun because he was not a legal citizen," Grewell said.
Solimon is due back in court on Thursday.
Two people are still in the hospital in critical condition.
The attack comes two weeks after two Israeli embassy staffers were shot and killed in D.C., and a month and a half after an arson at Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's mansion.
City News Service contributed to this report.
