A convicted killer sat motionless at the defense table. Spectators in the Boulder County District Court on May 7 were fixated on the man dressed in prisoner garb, an orange and white jumpsuit. Later, the man who attacked Boulder’s Run For Their Lives group on June 1, 2025, would try to convince his victims that he was not a demon, only to show his true colors moments later.
Mohamed Soliman had already pleaded guilty to state charges of murder in the first degree for the death of Boulder resident Karen Diamond, who died three weeks after Soliman threw Molotov cocktails at the peaceful protest group at the Pearl Street Mall.
Twenty-nine residents were treated for injuries, many of whom addressed Soliman as he awaited sentencing of 101 charges.
“This was a deliberate act,” said Andrew Chester, who was badly burned on June 1, “targeted and rooted in hatred, an act that could have easily resulted in many more of us in this room that were there that day not being here today.
“And I’m thankful that things did not go quite as the defendant had planned, that I’m still here. These scars go beyond physical. They’re lasting scars that change lives.
“I ask the court to recognize the full weight of that harm that was inflicted upon each of us that were there that day, but also on our entire Jewish community and the whole Boulder community at large.
“The act, the intent, and the lasting trauma it has caused.”
“Nothing gave this man the right to harm so many of us,” said Michelle Goldman, “not just those of us who were there, including our friend Karen Diamond, but Karen’s family and the broader community.
“Instead of teaching love, he demonstrated hate. Instead of appreciating what Colorado has to offer, he chose to destroy. A man that destroys so much should be held accountable for his crimes, not just to restrict him from committing future crimes, but as a deterrent to others.
“We cannot accept this trend in our society. There have been too many examples throughout history like the Holocaust that begin of crimes with hate and escalate into all out war against a people who want nothing more than to live their lives like everyone else.”
Rabbi Marc Soloway of Congregation Bonai Shalom, where many victims attend, addressed the court on behalf of Edward Victor:
“Before this crime,” Soloway read, “I was firing on all cylinders. I was present, sharp and engaged in my community in ways that gave my life both structure and deep meaning.
“That is who I was when I walked peacefully among others on the Pearl Street Mall to the Boulder County Courthouse.
“This is a loss that compounds quietly every day, but perhaps the deepest wound is the one that is invisible to everyone surrounding me. My sense of safety in Boulder County in Colorado has been permanently altered.”
Perhaps the most emotional witness testimony came from two people who were not in the courtroom, Andrew and Ethan Diamond, sons of Karen Diamond. Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty read on their behalf:
“We chose not to attend the sentencing hearing because we don’t want to have the memories of seeing our mother’s murderer nor any memories related to her murder beyond the horrors we’ve already witnessed,” the sons’ statement read.
“We instead submit the following statement regarding the sentencing. We ask only that the attacker never sees his family again, since he’s responsible for our mother never seeing her family again.
“Our mother suffered indescribable pain for more than three weeks before finally succumbing to her injuries.
“In those weeks, we learned the full meaning of the expressions ‘living hell’ and ‘fate worse than death.’”
Through an interpreter, speaking in Arabic, Soliman addressed the victims and District Court Chief Judge Nancy Salomone.
“I want to show my apology. I take full responsibility for my actions,” Soliman said.
“It is your right to describe me with all of the adjectives you have done — coward, vicious — all the adjectives you have done. I accept it. But I do not accept being accused of the word ‘hatred,’ especially against the Jewish community. I have much respect for them.
“I ask everyone for forgiveness.”
Any possibility of forgiveness was squashed when Soliman uttered his final words to the court:
“Yes, it is that I am against Israel. I can’t deny that. I will spend the remainder of my life in prison away from my family, my kids. Last message not only to you, but to the whole world: There is a mutual enemy. This enemy is Zionism. End Zionism before it ends you.”
Soliman made a plea agreement with prosecutors on Sunday, May 3. Judge Salomone’s sentencing verdict was chilling:
“Mr. Soliman, the court finds that you chose to victimize people who were peacefully gathering together,” Salamone said. “When you put violence into a peaceful gathering like that, you create fear for anyone who might gather in protest or support of anything.
“When I talk of the seriousness of the offenses, I also mean that you chose to victimize people because of who they are. The court finds that you chose to victimize these people because they were members of the Jewish community.
“They are people who have a deep and generational understanding of what it means to feel safe, and to feel unsafe in a community, and they were entitled to feel safe in this one.
“You chose to victimize the elderly, to victimize children, to victimize people who gathered in peace. You chose a time and a place, and a set of circumstances, and weapons, that were designed to inflict the most pain that you could. You did, indeed, inflict the most pain and fear that anyone possibly could.
“The court finds that your choices were acts of terror, and that they victimized an entire community, and that they made everyone in it feel unsafe, and that was your explicit purpose.
“All of those choices are intolerable. They have no place in this community, and they require that the court sentences you to the maximum possible penalties that the law allows.”
In addition to the life sentence Soliman received for the murder of Diamond, Salomone sentenced Soliman to 2,128 years for the other 100 charges facing the firebomber.
The official order from the court included that those 2,128 years would be served consecutively.
Following the sentencing, District Attorney Dougherty weighed in:
“Today we’ve seen the defendant held fully accountable and fully responsible for the horrific hate crime that he committed, and the act of anti-Semitism he committed after planning it out and taking methodical and intentional steps to harm as many people in the Jewish community as he possibly could here in Boulder,” Dougherty said.
“The defendant is now going to spend the rest of his life in state prison, or federal prison, knowing he destroyed the lives of innocent, wonderful people, and he killed Karen Diamond.
“As much as this act was brutal and monstrous and horrific, it was also — and hear me loud and clear — cowardly, because if you want to come to Boulder County, [if] you want to go to any community and set innocent people on fire, you are truly a coward.
“And we saw that reflected in the statements he made in court today, too.”
Reaction from the joint Boulder Jewish community as released by its JCC:
“Since June 1, we have witnessed something we will never forget. In the wake of unimaginable tragedy, this community showed up: neighbors, faith leaders, elected officials, and people from across the country and around the world. That solidarity carried us through our darkest moments, and it sustains us still.
“This guilty plea and sentencing do not erase our pain. But it matters. It tells our community that acts of hate-fueled terror and antisemitic violence will not be tolerated and will be met with significant consequences.
“We hope that this outcome helps the survivors as they continue their ongoing healing process and brings some comfort to Jews around the world who face antisemitism every single day.”
From the American Jewish Committee:
“We welcome the sentencing of the perpetrator responsible for the horrific 2025 fire- bombing attack in Boulder, Colorado, targeting a group of people calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza.
“Karen Diamond didn’t pass away from some unnamed hate — she was murdered in an antisemitic attack by a perpetrator shouting “Free Palestine.”
“There must be zero tolerance for antisemitic violence, and those who commit such crimes must be held fully accountable.
“While this sentencing is a critical step toward accountability, these attacks have had a profound impact on American Jews’ sense of safety. Leaders must increase their efforts to protect the Jewish community and ensure that no American Jew has to live in fear.”
As the survivors left the Boulder County Courthouse, Mohamed Soliman left, too, shackled. He will spend the rest of his life in prison, though the length of his life might be shorter than expected. Federal charges will be in the offing, and federal penalties for murder could include the death penalty.
With that in mind, the Boulder survivors do not find total closure, just yet.
© IJN 2026
