COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — A major announcement. Authorities said a federal hate crime charge was filed against Mohamed Soliman for Sunday's attack on a pro-Israel rally at Boulder's Pearl Street Mall.
"We are united in our commitment, both at the federal level and the state level, in pursuing and securing justice for the victims of this mass attack and for the communities that we serve," said Boulder County DA Michael Dougherty. "What you see here today is us standing shoulder to shoulder, ensuring that justice is done in response to this tragic and terrible attack."
The suspect faces at least 40 charges at the state level including the following:
- attempted first degree murder
- first degree assault
- possession of incendiary devices
To Colorado Springs attorney Jeremy Loew, the hate crime charge was filed because the suspect targeted a specific group of people.
"You can have acts of terror that are also hate crimes," said Loew. "This was purposefully done to hurt Jews. This wasn't done to try and create government change through an act of terror."
A former public defender, Loew says an example of this distinction happened to the Club Q shooter who pleaded guilty to state and federal charges.
"The shooter who shot up Club Q, right? He wasn't trying to change policy. He wasn't trying to influence government. He wasn't trying to. What he wanted to do was kill the LGBTQ community," said Loew. "The Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh, it wasn't a hate crime. He wasn't targeting one specific group."
One thing that stood out to Loew was how quickly a federal charge was issued, less than 24 hours from the incident.
"Federal judges and federal magistrates do not generally move at an expeditious pace," said Loew. "Here we have the attorney general at the federal level coming down within a day."
His reasoning:
"I think that they're going to send a very strong message that antisemitism in this country is not going to be tolerated."
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