(NewsNation) — Miri Kornfeld, leader of Denver’s Run for Their Lives group, said the man allegedly behind an attack on the organization‘s chapter in Boulder, Colorado, wasn’t a known threat.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, is accused of using a makeshift flamethrower and an incendiary device to attack a group of demonstrators on Sunday. At least eight were injured, according to police.
“There’s, you know, the typical protesters that show up all the time in Boulder. He was not one of them. He’s not somebody that was on anybody’s radar, at least the Run for Their Lives people or my friends up in Boulder,” Kornfeld said. “He was not somebody that they had seen before.”
The group was holding its weekly walk calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Kornfeld admonished the violence “on such a peaceful gathering,” calling the situation on Pearl Street “truly terrifying.”
Booking documents show Soliman faces eight felony charges, including murder in the first degree, for Sunday’s attack. Mark Michalek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Denver field office, said the suspect yelled “Free Palestine” during the attack.
The Boulder Police Department said no one has died as a result, despite initial charges against Soliman.
“I know that the Run for Their Lives leadership has been closely in touch with a lot of the people who have been hospitalized,” she said. “I do know that four of them have been released, and two are still in the hospital. We don’t have a status update yet on how those two are doing, but we’re praying for happiness.”
Moving forward, Kornfeld said some Run for Their Lives chapters will operate under heightened security — when they start up again.
“Walks are canceled for the foreseeable future, and we hope to get them up and running very soon,” Kornfeld said, citing Sunday’s attack and last week’s shooting outside an Israeli embassy as cause for safety concerns.