DENVER — The Denver chapter of Run for Their Lives, an organization advocating for the release of hostages in Gaza, said it will make safety changes to future events after a group from the Boulder chapter was attacked Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon, the Boulder chapter of Run For Their Lives held its weekly walk to bring attention to the Israeli hostages held in Gaza. The Boulder group walks every Sunday and planned to do so at 1 p.m. at the corner of 8th and Pearl streets. Sunday was the start of the Jewish holiday Shavuot.
The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, of Colorado Springs, is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails into the crowd of demonstrating people, injuring 12 of them, and yelling "Free Palestine," according to a federal arrest affidavit Denver7 obtained and Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty. A state arrest affidavit added that witnesses saw him using a commercial weed sprayer filled with a flammable substance as a makeshift blowtorch.
Nobody was killed in the incident, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has labeled a “targeted terror attack.”
“This is a huge shock to the community, but this is not new,” Miri Kornfeld, a volunteer with Run For Their Lives Denver, told Denver7 anchor Jessica Porter.
Run for Their Lives began after October 7, 2023, when Hamas, a terrorist organization, executed a coordinated attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking over 240 hostages. The organization has 230 chapters around the world, and members walk every Sunday in their communities to raise awareness about the hostages.
Kornfeld said the initial response from group members was to cancel the walks, but now, they are figuring out the best ways to continue safely.
“This is truly a universal issue, and the violence and the antisemitism need to be called out by all world leaders and everybody who has a heart in their highest forms,” Kornfeld said. “This will not break us, and we will come out on the other side stronger.”
- JEWISHcolorado has set up a fund to help those who were injured in Sunday's attack. If you'd like to donate, follow this link.
The Boulder and Denver chapters coordinate with local police for safety at their weekly walks. Kornfeld said threats never went beyond a heckler or two. But after two Israeli embassy staffers were killed in Washington, D.C. last month, the group started a fundraiser for private security.
“Moving forward, we're not really sure what the walks are going to look like at the moment, but yes, there will absolutely be heightened security at anything and everything that we do,” Kornfeld said.
