Colorado man to plead guilty deadly 2025 terror attack in Colorado a vigil for Israeli Gaza hostages

The defendant in last year's terror attack on a vigil in Boulder, Colorado, for Israeli hostages in Gaza is expected to plead guilty Thursday to murder and other charges, according to court documents.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the defendant, previously pleaded not guilty in the June 1, 2025, attack in which he threw Molotov cocktails at vigil participants –injuring at least 15 and killing an 82-year-old woman.

Soliman now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for the June 1 attack. He also pleaded not guilty to federal charges that could result in a death penalty, but has offered to plead guilty to them in exchange for the death penalty being removed and instead being sentenced to serve life in prison. 

Soliman's defense team said in a filing Sunday that the attack “was profoundly inconsistent” with Soliman’s prior conduct and “came as a total shock to his family," according to NBC News. 

His attorneys also claimed their client , who is in the U.S. illegally, should not be charged with a federal hate crime because he was driven by opposition to Zionism, which is a political movement, not because the victims were specifically Jewish. An attack motivated by political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law.

Prosecutors have yet to comment on Soliman's plans to plead guilty in the state case.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.