Omer Shachar is a young Israeli American who has helped lead the Run for Their Lives gatherings in Colorado in support of the hostages held by Hamas every Sunday since November, 2023.
Shachar started with the peaceful Run for Their Lives demonstrations in Denver’s Washington Park, and continued his involvement in Boulder when he moved there two months ago.
On Sunday, June 1, the Boulder Run for Their Lives contingent began its walk on the Pearl Street Mall, just like every week, stopping at the center point of the mall in front of the Boulder County Historic Courthouse for announcements and updates on the 58 remaining hostages.
Shachar, in his capacity as the group’s leader for the day, gathered the participants close so he could be heard without a microphone. Facing the group of about 25, he was making some announcements, and was about to take a group photo.
“Maybe 30 seconds in, the terrorist threw Molotov cocktails at the legs of the people in the group, and the fire spread out so quickly. Because of the gasoline, their clothes caught fire very quickly,” Shachar told the Intermountain Jewish News.
“Stupidly, at the beginning, I ran after [the perpetrator], maybe trying to tackle him down, until I saw that his clothes were on fire and he was reaching for a container that he had set up in advance with many more bottles, so I ran away.
“Another person who was with me and I thought maybe we should talk to him to stop him, but we realized there’s something bigger going on, so we ran away.”
Shachar saw 88-year-old Holocaust survivor Barbara Steinmetz fall to the ground “because maybe the bottle hit her. The ground was on fire.
“When we tried to pull her out of the fire, the fire travelled at us, and even her hair was on fire. This is why she is in such bad shape.”
Steinmetz was airlifted from the Pearl Street Mall to CU Anschutz Medical Center in Aurora to be treated in the acute burn unit there. She was one of at least eight people set afire in the attack. The most recent information from Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty is that 15 people were injured in the attack.
Shachar said the attack seemed to occur without any escalation. “In my mind, it went from zero to 100 right away. There was nothing suspicious. There was no engagement. All of a sudden there was fire.
“It was chaos right away. There’s fire, so you just run. Then we saw the woman on the ground and we went to help her.”
Shachar is impressed how the initial chaos turned into mutual support.
“We were still waiting for the police to come, but in the meantime, I didn’t realize there are some first responders in the group, and people started helping each other. If someone was more injured, someone else was holding their hands, taking them out of danger.”
Pearl Street Mall was quite full that sunny Sunday afternoon. Shachar said people on the mall, instead of running away, stayed to help, using their water bottles to put out the fire and creating a “barrier between the terrorist and us.”
Run for Their Lives started shortly after the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, to raise awareness of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas. It started in California and quickly spread and now operates in 230 communities around the world.
“We are a peaceful non-political group. We are not chanting; we are not marching. We are not making any noise,” said Shachar. “In fact, before each walk, I’m asking the people not to engage. We really emphasize the peaceful side of it.”
Shachar the participants make their statements by wearing shirts, carrying signs and flags. “And this is enough. You can’t miss us. You don’t need to scream or make a scene.”
Channeling the “life-must-go-on” attitude that Israelis are known for after terror attacks, Run for Their Lives will not be stopped by the terror attack in Boulder last weekend.
On Sunday, June 8, the Denver cohort of the movement will move from their usual location of Washington Park to join forces with the Boulder group at noon on the Pearl Street Mall to walk in solidarity, supporting the remaining hostages and staring down terrorism, undeterred.
“There is no reason to stop,” said Shachar. “We still have 58 hostages in the tunnels held by the Hamas terrorists. We are working with police to make sure that it will be safe for everyone.”
The annual Boulder Jewish Festival will also go on as scheduled, Sunday, June 8 on the Pearl Street Mall. The JCC has said that enhanced security measures will be in place, but declined to specify what those would be.
© IJN 2025
