BOULDER, Colo. — More than 24 hours since police say a man injured and burned 12 people with Molotov cocktails in Boulder on Sunday, those who saw the attack and community groups against antisemitism are reflecting on new details.
Brian Horwitz was among the many who witnessed and tried helping victims of Sunday's attack on a group demonstration for the release of Israeli hostages.
He was at a nearby food hall on Pearl Street when he says he realized something was happening right outside. He said an ordinary night devolved into chaos.
- WATCH: Denver7 team coverage of the attack, the suspect, reaction and more in the video player below:
"I had a typical toddler tantrum that was happening right next to me, and so we didn't really notice anything until someone, a woman came down, started running across the street, saying there was someone throwing fire at people," Horwitz said, adding that he jumped up from his seat at the food hall to run to the courthouse. "When I walked up [...] it was just total chaos."
Horwitz told Denver7 he tried working through the chaos to figure out exactly what was going on and how he could help.
"I just kind of tried to focus on, on where the actual attacker was and what was going on, trying to get a lay of the land. And I just saw this guy that was being pretty erratic, pacing back and forth, holding two, two carafes of some kind of clear liquid in his in his hands," he said. "I noticed there was a kind of a rag coming out of it, a little bit too. So I just kind of put two and two together, thinking it was a Molotov cocktail set of things. It came to my attention a bit later on that diesel fuel is clear. So you put those two and two things together, that makes a lot of sense. It all smelled like gasoline burning everywhere."
- 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.
Horwitz went on to tell Denver7 he's still working to process what happened Sunday.
"There were people lying on all sides of the of the grass, different sides of the sidewalk," he said. "There was an elderly woman on one side of the fountain, who wasn't really moving, and they were trying to extinguish her a bit, and it's probably patting her down, pouring water over her. I could see her singed hair, basically from the top of her head. And then the attacker was again, pacing back and forth, screaming things."
- WATCH: How Boulder is coming together following Pearl Street Mall attack
On Monday morning, Pearl Street Mall was much calmer, with most shops reopening. Near the site of the attack was a group that's mission is to advocate for the safety of Jewish students.
Instead of being on the CU Boulder campus, they decided to go to the site of Sunday's attack.
"We want to be present for our Jewish community. There's over 100,000 in Colorado, and so coming up here is a small price to pay," said David Tennies, who traveled with Stories of Antisemitism from Colorado Springs to Boulder, Monday.
"It was last night, me and my boss, Jeremy, were texting back and forth. I was on 'X' when I heard about it, and I was just weeping as I was looking for the footage online, genuinely crying," Tennies said. "I'm not playing that up. It was, it hit my heart deeply, and I knew that we were going to be up here, because that's what we do."
More Denver7 in-depth coverage of the Boulder attack
Suspect in Boulder attack charged with hate crime, 16 counts of attempted murder Fund set up to help those injured in attack on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall Group targeted in Pearl Street Mall attack plans to make safety changes ‘A normalization of hate’: Anti-Defamation League reacts to Boulder firebombing A Holocaust survivor is among the victims of Boulder antisemitic attack What we know about Boulder firebombing suspect Mohamed Soliman What is Shavuot? The Jewish festival that started hours after Boulder, CO attackTennies told Denver7 the organizations mission is to build bridges of solidarity between Christian and Jewish communities and speaking with people in Boulder Monday was the right thing to do for them.
"I think for the Jewish community, we want them to know that they're not alone," Tennies said. "So many of our friends in the Jewish community have asked, is there anyone outside of the Jewish community that has our backs, and we want our answer to be a resounding yes, not just in word, but indeed. We want them to understand that we have got to do something, we've got to say something. We cannot be silent about rising antisemitism."
Horwitz told Denver7 he shares in that sentiment.
"I'm Jewish myself, and so it's, it's being attacked in all different types of ways all around the world," he said. "it's coming together as a community, continuing to come together as a community, since October 7 and and just banding together, but hopefully seeing people start to come to the realization that this is an us problem, not a them problem, and that people will start standing up for Jewish people a bit more."
