BOULDER, Colo. (AP) 鈥� A of a firebomb attack that killed one person and injured a dozen others while they were demonstrating in Boulder, Colorado, in support of in Gaza has pleaded guilty to murder and other charges.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman entered the pleas Thursday in Boulder County District Court. He now faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the attack in downtown Boulder last June 1.
Soliman, who is expected to be sentenced later Thursday, made no comments through two translators. He just agreed to guilty pleas and said he understood the judge鈥檚 reading of the charges.
Soliman initially pleaded not guilty in state court to murder and dozens of attempted murder and assault charges for throwing two Molotov cocktails at demonstrators at a pedestrian mall in downtown Boulder, a city of 100,000 people northwest of Denver that鈥檚 home to the University of Colorado.
Karen Diamond, 82, was injured in the attack and later died. A dozen others were also injured.
In a statement read in court by a prosecutor, Diamond鈥檚 sons asked that Soliman not be allowed to see his family again 鈥渟ince he is responsible for our mother never seeing her family again.鈥�
Andrew and Ethan Diamond said their mother suffered 鈥渋ndescribable pain鈥� for over three weeks before her death. 鈥淚n those weeks, we learned the full meaning of the expressions living hell and fate worse than death,鈥� Diamond鈥檚 sons said in the statement.
In another statement read by a prosecutor, a physician who was a victim of the attack described the helplessness of seeing Diamond suffering and knowing that she would not survive.
Soliman is an Egyptian national who federal authorities say was . Investigators allege he planned the attack for a year and was driven by a desire .鈥�
Boulder Mayor Pro Tem Tara Winer said the victims included some of her close friends.
鈥淚t was a horrific attack,鈥� Winer said by email this week. 鈥淭heir lives were changed forever.鈥�
Soliman鈥檚 attorneys in a Sunday court filing in a related federal case. Soliman has meanwhile pleaded not guilty to .
Prosecutors are weighing whether to seek the death penalty in the federal case, according to his attorneys.
Soliman鈥檚 federal attorneys have said in court filings the attack 鈥渨as profoundly inconsistent鈥� with Soliman鈥檚 prior conduct and 鈥渃ame as a total shock to his family.鈥�
Soliman had been living with his family in a two-bedroom apartment in Colorado Springs 鈥� about 97 miles (156 kilometers) away 鈥� at the time of the attack. He had moved to the U.S. from Kuwait in 2022 with his wife and their five children and worked in a series of low-paying jobs.
The couple divorced in April.
Investigators allege Soliman told them he intended to kill the roughly 20 participants at the weekly demonstration at Boulder鈥檚 Pearl Street pedestrian mall. He threw two of more than two dozen Molotov cocktails he had with him while yelling, 鈥淔ree Palestine!鈥�
Police said he told them he got scared because he had never hurt anyone before.
Federal prosecutors allege the victims were targeted because of their perceived or actual connection to Israel. Soliman鈥檚 federal defense lawyers argue he should not have been charged with hate crimes because he was motivated by opposition to Zionism, the political movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel.
An attack motivated by someone鈥檚 political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law.
State prosecutors have identified 29 victims in the attack. Thirteen were physically injured. The others were nearby and considered victims because they could have been hurt. A dog was also injured in the attack, and Soliman was charged with animal cruelty.
Soliman鈥檚 wife, Hayam El Gamal, and their children spent 10 months in immigration detention until a federal judge in Texas in April.
An immigration appeals court had dismissed their case to stay in the U.S. and issued a deportation order. But U.S. District Judge Fred Biery in San Antonio allowed their release on the condition that El Gamal and her oldest child, who is 18, wear electronic monitoring.
Soliman鈥檚 attorneys seek to block the family鈥檚 deportation until a judge determines they won鈥檛 need to be present for court proceedings in his federal case.
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