Vikki Migoya (00:18):
Good afternoon. I am Vikki Migoya, the public affairs officer for FBI Denver. We are here today to provide another update about the ongoing investigation into the attacks, Sunday, on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. We're going to have four speakers today. I'm going to give you their names and I'm going to spell them. So first you will hear from acting US attorney, J. Bishop Grewell for the District of Colorado. That is the initial J. First name, Bishop. B as in boy, I-S-H-O-P. Grewell, G-R-E-W-E-L-L. Our second speaker will be 20th Judicial District attorney, Michael Dougherty. That is Michael, the common spelling, and Dougherty is D as in dog, O-U-G-H-E-R-T-Y. Next you will hear from FBI Denver special agent in charge, Mark Michalek. That is Mark, the common spelling with a K, and Michalek, M as in Mary, I-C-H-A-L-E-K. The final speaker today will be Boulder police chief, Stephen Redfearn. That is S-T-E-P-H-E-N, and Redfearn is R-E-D-F-E-A-R-N. We will take a few questions at the end, and now I'm going to turn the podium over to Mr. Grewell. Thank you.
J. Bishop Grewell (01:49):
Thank you, Ms. Migoya. I'm Bishop Grewell, the acting US attorney for the District of Colorado. On behalf of myself, my office, and the entire Department of Justice, I want to express my heartbreak and my support for the victims, their families, and the community of Boulder. I pray for those families, as well as everyone in Boulder, Colorado, and the nation who woke up this morning worried about themselves, their loved ones, and not feeling safe in their own communities because of yesterday's attack. I assure you that my office and our partners are here for you and we are taking action. I want to thank the first responders, citizens and law enforcement alike, who work to quickly end this violent attack, save lives, and tend to those who were injured.
(03:01)
I also want to thank our law enforcement partners at Boulder Police, including Chief Redfearn, the FBI, including special agent in charge, Michalek and the Boulder DA's office, including DA Michael Dougherty. They worked hand-in-hand with my office as the matter was thoroughly investigated and prepared for charges. And I want to thank our partners in DC including Attorney General Bondi, Director Cash Patel, and assistant attorney general in charge of civil rights, Harmeet Dhillon, for their support. My office and AAG Dhillon were in contact yesterday throughout the day, which helped lead to the federal charge that we're announcing today.
(03:52)
My office has charged Mohamed Sabry Soliman, age 45, with the commission of a hate crime under 18 U.S.C., Section 249. And that offense includes attempted murder. The statutory maximum federal sentence is life in prison. No one should ever be subjected to violence of any kind, but our laws recognize that such violence is particularly pernicious when someone is targeted because of their race, their religion, or their national origin. According to our complaint and the charges brought by DA Dougherty's office, Mr. Soliman stated that he had been planning this attack for a year and he acted because he hated, what he called, the Zionist group.
(04:57)
But what the charges allege that he did was to throw Molotov cocktails at a group of men and women, some of them in their late eighties, burning them as they peacefully walked on a Sunday, to draw attention to Israeli hostages held in Gaza. And when he was interviewed about the attack, he said he wanted them all to die. He had no regrets and he would go back and do it again. He said that he had previously tried to purchase a firearm but resorted to the Molotov cocktails when he could not purchase a gun because he was not a legal citizen. I remind you that Mr. Soliman is presumed innocent until proven guilty. My office and our partners hope justice will help heal the people in this community and in the communities throughout the country, shaken by yesterday's attack. We fully intend to hold Mr. Soliman accountable for his actions, and these charges are the first step. Thank you. I'm going to turn it over to DA Michael Dougherty.
Michael Dougherty (06:27):
Good afternoon. I'm Michael Dougherty. I'm the district attorney for Boulder County. I appreciate the members of the media who are here today so we can help provide this update to a grieving and traumatized community. What you see here today is us standing shoulder to shoulder, ensuring that justice is done in response to this tragic and terrible attack. We stand united in denouncing hate, terror and violence in this community. We are united in condemning acts of anti-Semitism, hate and violence, and we're also united in a strong response to this horrific attack. I stand with this community and the people of the state of Colorado against hate and terror, and 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. Boulder is a beautiful and special place, but we're not immune from mass violence or hate crimes, including violent acts of anti-Semitism that impact far too many communities across this country.
(07:38)
And yesterday afternoon, on a beautiful day here in Colorado, a number of people participated in a peaceful walk and gathering on Pearl Street here in Boulder. It is a place where a lot of people gather every day, and the ones who joined in this peaceful gathering are now the victims of a senseless, unjustified, and horrific mass attack. And to all the victims, their loved ones and to this community, I promise you that each one of us up here today will work tirelessly to ensure that justice is done and the defendant is held fully accountable. I want to recognize, as the US attorney did, the response by community members who helped in the minutes immediately following the attack and came to render aid to victims who had suffered through a horrific attack upon them. Also, I want to recognize the courage and the rapid response by the Boulder Police Department, who once again were called to respond to a truly horrific attack upon innocent members of our community and responded without a second of delay.
(08:45)
I'll highlight for you that there were 16 unused Molotov cocktails that were recovered by law enforcement in the hours after the incident took place. 16. So I really want to thank the Boulder Police Department and their law enforcement responders as well as the first responders who provided medical aid to the victims. But that rapid response, with the recovery of the 16 unused Molotov cocktails, I think, speaks for itself. Our office and the US attorney's office will be working closely together and in coordination with one another to ensure the defendant is held fully accountable. As you heard from the US attorney, the US attorney's office will be prosecuting the hate crime against the defendant. Our office will be prosecuting the attempted murder charges and related charges at the state level. This approach will accurately reflect the actions the defendant is alleged to have taken and the harms that he caused that will allow us to secure a verdict, an outcome, a sentence, whereby he'll be held fully accountable.
(09:48)
It's been done, and by it I mean federal and state prosecutions jointly. It has been done in other cases. Most recently, the Club Q mass shooting down in Colorado Springs. At the time the arrest affidavit and warrant were filed with the state court yesterday, there were eight victims identified. And I'll touch briefly now on the charges that were filed at the state level as well as the possible sentences he faces if convicted on those charges. So there were 16 counts of attempted murder in the first degree. Eight of those counts are for attempted murder with intent, and after deliberation. The other eight counts are attempted murder with extreme indifference, so 16 counts total. If the defendant is convicted and those counts are running consecutive to one another, he would face a maximum of 384 years in state prison. He's also charged with two counts of use of an incendiary device. If convicted of those charges and they run consecutive, he would face a maximum sentence of 48 years.
(10:49)
He's also charged with 16 other counts of attempted use of an incendiary device, and again, if convicted and if they run consecutive, the maximum on those counts would be 192 years. So 384 years on the attempted murder, 48 on the use of the Molotov cocktails, and then the attempted use would be 192 years. The judge set a $10 million cash-only bond on the state charges. As you are aware, he's going to be going before the judge this afternoon at the jail. I believe that is scheduled for 3:30, but I rely on the sheriff's office to communicate with members of the media, the exact time. Thanks to the investigation by federal, state, and local partners. And I just want to highlight for you, this is a horrific attack, but as district attorney, when I walk into this building and I see the FBI, Boulder PD and all the law enforcement partners working, it's the exact response I hope to see.
(11:47)
The teamwork they demonstrate the work they put into it, if you were downstairs right now, you'd see incredible law enforcement officers and investigators working calmly, professionally, and tirelessly to ensure we get all the information we need to get the right outcome in the criminal cases that the US attorney's Office and my office will prosecute. Through their work, we've now identified four additional victims. So there's now a total of 12 victims. And as you'll hear from the FBI special agent in charge, we're going to continue to encourage victims and witnesses to come forward and contact law enforcement. But we now have 12 victims, and later this week, we'll be filing formal charges against him. That's our normal process. So the filing of formal charges by the district attorney's office will reflect 12 victims and if more come forward, additional victims as well.
(12:38)
On my final note, what I want to stress is this community has experienced too many tragedies, fires, floods, and mass attacks, but each time I've seen this great community respond with strength, resilience, and support for one another. I trust and hope that that will happen again now. That for the many members of the community who have come forward before to help one another, to support one another, to comfort one another, that that will happen again today and in the weeks, months going forward, that once again, our community will rally to restore peace and to bring support and comfort one another during this dark hour. As your district attorney, I want to remind the members of the media and the community that the defendant is innocent unless and until proven guilty and the charges or merely allegations. I'm going to turn it over to the special agent in charge of the FBI and then we're happy to take questions after each one of us is done. Thank you.
Mark Michalek (13:43):
Good afternoon. I'm Mark Michalek, special agent in charge of the FBI's Denver field office. I want to provide a quick investigative update. The FBI has been here on the scene in Boulder for the past 24 hours, and we stand shoulder to shoulder with the Boulder Police Department and our partners. Their heroic and swift actions have clearly saved lives. As mentioned, there were 16 unused Molotov cocktails within arm's reach of the subject at the time of his arrest. So there is no question that the first responders saved lives and prevented further victims from being injured. And I think the facts that we have both federal and state charges within 24 hours of this attack is a testament to the strength of the partnerships, the professionalism of the investigators, and our commitment to the community and to each other to pursue justice. We continue to support the victims, their families, and the greater community with personnel and resources.
(14:39)
Our hearts go out to the victims and we want you to know that we are committed to being here for you. Since two o'clock yesterday, more than 30 special agents, intelligence experts and professional staff have deployed to provide forensic investigative and crisis management support, as well as additional resources are being surged from other field offices and at our headquarters in Washington D.C. and they're on the way. While at this time it appears the perpetrator acted alone, we do continue to investigate all possibilities and pursue all investigative leads. If we uncover evidence that others knew of this attack or supported the subject in this attack, rest assured that we will aggressively move to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
(15:27)
Since the investigation began 24 hours ago, the FBI has conducted 44 witness interviews. We've executed search warrants on vehicles, property and digital devices. We've deployed our full evidence response team, both to Boulder at the main crime scene, and the execution of a search warrant at a residence tied to the subject in Colorado Springs. Members of the ERT worked through the night to gather all evidence so that the Pearl Street could swiftly be reopened this morning. We've deployed victim specialists to hospitals and assigned one to each and every victim that's been identified to date. We've set up a digital media tip line. We've deployed a mobile command post for information sharing and evidence control, and we continue to canvas for witnesses, additional victims and camera footage.
(16:17)
We ask that you call us at 1-800-CALL-FBI if you have any information about the events that transpired yesterday. If you saw something, if you heard something, if you have information, our investigators want to hear from you. If you have multimedia evidence, whether that is photos, social media posts, or videos related to the attack, please visit the site that we've established and you can provide your information fbi.gov\boulderattack. We at the FBI are not tracking any credible threats to the Boulder community at this time. However, if you see something suspicious, we urge you to call 911. The FBI takes seriously its mission to protect the American people of the United States, both nationally as well as here and in Boulder. Hate fueled acts of violence have no place in our community, and we will use every tool and resource available to hold those who commit such acts fully accountable. And I'll turn it over to Chief Redfearn.
Stephen Redfearn (17:25):
Thank you. Good afternoon. Again, my name is Stephen Redfearn. I have the honor to serve as the police chief here in Boulder. I want to give a few updates from the city and the police department before we take some questions. So today, in the aftermath of this heinous terrorist attack in our city, I again want to start with thanking our partners. I think we've all alluded to the importance of partnerships. I can tell you, as I was rushing to the scene yesterday, one of the first or second calls I made was to the special agent in charge because no matter what this ended up being, I knew we would need help. And once again, the FBI, all of our state, local and federal partners have stepped up and we are absolutely in a really good place for 24 hours into this investigation in my opinion.
(18:10)
Michael Dougherty alluded to it, but the work that I've seen in this building and out on the street in the last 24 hours is remarkable. And every single person working on this investigation is doing their job above and beyond to bring justice to these victims, including the men that stand behind me here, and I'm grateful. The scene, as you may know, around two in the morning, we released the scene. So as of this time, we have no active closures in downtown Boulder. We have no areas closed off. We spent an extensive amount of time yesterday up until the early morning hours today with bomb dogs, our bomb squads, ensuring that there were no other threats in the area. And people were allowed, after midnight, to go back and get vehicles and businesses have been allowed to reopen if they so choose. I can tell you this morning I walked down Pearl Street with members of my team. I interacted with a lot of business owners, community out there, and the way I felt leaving there was, I was heartened.
(19:07)
I was heartened by the resilience of our community, the positive attitude that people had, the understanding of the inconvenience of yesterday with businesses having to close and really, I walked out of that thinking, "We're going to be okay." Once again, as a community, we're going to recover after coming together. A little bit more on community. So we are aware of events this week. We're aware of things coming up in the next... We're looking seven to 10 days out at other events and we are going to ensure along with our partners that we have adequate law enforcement coverage, security at any event that's taking place this week. We want to ensure that people feel comfortable and safe in this community gathering and remembering what happened, as well as any other planned events that we have. We will be relying upon our partners such as the state patrol to ensure that we have proper coverage where people can feel safe.
(20:01)
Before this attack, the Boulder Police Department and the City of Boulder had very strong relationships with our Jewish community. We even have an officer assigned as a Jewish community liaison with Boulder PD. Those relationships have paid off dividends during this attack and I know going forward in the aftermath, we're going to continue to work with our community. I've been in contact via phone, email, and texts throughout the day and last night with members of our Jewish community. Myself and the district attorney will be leaving shortly to have a meeting with community leaders from our Jewish community as well. The message there, the bottom line message, is we want everyone to feel safe. We will not condone these types of attacks and acts in our community. I will reiterate what was prior said. It is never an inconvenience for someone to call the police. If they feel uncomfortable about a situation, if they see something odd, if they see a person acting in a suspicious manner, let us come out and let us determine if there is a validity to people's suspicions. That's why we are here.
(20:59)
So please call us if you see something. Literally, the old see something, say something adage applies here. Please call us if there's anything that's making you feel uncomfortable in the community. And lastly, I just want to say again, we have been contacted, the city and the police department, from all over the world with outpouring of support, messages of support, and I want to thank you. It matters. It makes a difference going forward. So I appreciate all of that. With that, I'm going to turn it back over to our public information officer for some questions.
Vikki Migoya (21:29):
All right. I will try to call on people for questions and I will repeat the question hopefully so everybody can hear it and then turn it over to our experts for answers. Yeah, Tony?
Tony (21:40):
Chief, or anybody up here, do we have any new video showing how he walked in with these 16, 18, 19 Molotov cocktails. That's not a one walk trip. Anything you've been able to discover to show how they got there?
Vikki Migoya (21:54):
So the question is, do we have any new video evidence about how he entered the area with the Molotov cocktails he had?
Stephen Redfearn (22:02):
I'm behind you. Thank you for the question. As I speak, we have teams of detectives partnered with FBI on Pearl Street, going business to business, door to door. We're piecing together a timeline using video, license plate readers, all of those things, relying heavily on our federal partners. As of right now, I have not been made aware that we actually have video of him carrying anything into that area. Obviously, we're looking at that and if someone were to have that video, please contact the one 1-800 number that the special agent in charge mentioned, or you can contact us as well at BPD. There's a high likelihood it's out there and we just... I don't know the existence of it yet.
Vikki Migoya (22:40):
Yeah. Dave?
Dave (22:42):
Yes. Can you tell us any updates on the eight original victims and then any more information on the four people that you've identified as well?
Vikki Migoya (22:51):
The question is if we can provide additional information about the eight victims that we previously mentioned and the new four that came up today.
Stephen Redfearn (23:01):
Thank you. Regarding the victims, prior to this press conference, I received an update that we still have two victims in the hospital. I believe those are the two that were flown to University Hospital in Aurora. I believe the additional victims that we learned of today, the reason we didn't know about them until today was their injuries, thankfully, were more minor in nature. They've come forward to be interviewed and things, and then we realized that they did have injuries. So we're counting everyone who received any sort of injury in this attack in that number. So as far as I'm aware right now, two people still in the hospital, and again, our thoughts are with them as they recover.
Vikki Migoya (23:39):
Yeah, right here.
Speaker 8 (23:41):
Hi. Do you know how many people were in the original peaceful march from the group that was there originally?
Vikki Migoya (23:47):
So the question is do we know how many people were participating in the group's peaceful march on Sunday?
Stephen Redfearn (23:55):
I do not have an exact number of the people that were there for the peaceful gathering. What I can say though is when we responded to the scene, there were probably 20 to 30 people in that vicinity. Some of them were witnesses. Not all of them were there specifically to take part in that weekly gathering. And so I don't know that. But in the area, we had 20 to 30 folks right there at the courthouse with a lot of other people coming and going with the businesses right there.
Vikki Migoya (24:25):
Yeah, over here.
Speaker 9 (24:26):
For the US attorney. This was initially classified by the FBI as a terrorism investigation. Is the hate crime charge a terrorism charge, or did something change in the charging decision?
Vikki Migoya (24:38):
So the question is for the US attorney's office about the fact that yesterday, terrorism was mentioned and we see a hate crime charge today, and can we explain that?
J. Bishop Grewell (24:47):
So we've moved swiftly to charge quickly just to send the message to the community that no acts of anti-Semitism are going to be tolerated and there are severe consequences. Just because there's only one charge that has been made so far doesn't mean that we're not considering other charges that could come in the future.
Vikki Migoya (25:09):
Yes.
Speaker 10 (25:09):
Can we get some clarity, Chief? We're hearing UC Health says they have three victims there, is it three or two?
Vikki Migoya (25:16):
Question is about victims at UC Health?
Stephen Redfearn (25:21):
I don't have that clarity that you're asking for regarding the number. We've been told two. It's possible it's three. We may be not having updates on if people have been released. We can absolutely follow up with that number. We can confirm it up after this and put that out.
Vikki Migoya (25:38):
In the back with the hat.
Speaker 11 (25:40):
Was there any prior knowledge of Soliman as a potential threat before yesterday?
Vikki Migoya (25:46):
So the question is, was there any prior knowledge that the perpetrator was a threat?
Stephen Redfearn (25:55):
Regarding the suspect, obviously we're still looking into him, his whereabouts, all of that. He was not on our radar in Boulder. We had no prior contacts with him here. I can't speak to his criminal history. I'm not sure if the special agent charge has anything to add, but this was not someone that we were aware of prior.
Vikki Migoya (26:16):
Yes?
Speaker 12 (26:19):
Mr. Soliman has a wife, multiple children back at his home in Colorado Springs. Given his status as being here illegally for the last two or three years, is there any knowledge of how they've been cooperating and what happens to them moving forward given the situation for his citizenship?
Vikki Migoya (26:39):
The question is about the suspect's family and their status and what might happen to them next.
Mark Michalek (26:49):
As far as the family, as I mentioned, we executed a search warrant at the residence in Colorado Springs last night, and the family was cooperative for that. Regarding their status, I would just defer you to the Department of Homeland Security.
Speaker 12 (27:02):
Sir, can you talk about what you were looking for and what you found in that search warrant?
Mark Michalek (27:07):
So it was part of this investigation. It's a logical part of our investigation to see if there's additional evidence there. Evidence was recovered, including digital evidence and we're reviewing that now to determine, as the acting US attorney said, if additional charges are warranted down the road.
Speaker 13 (27:30):
Was he on your radar as joint terrorism task force as a potential suspect?
Mark Michalek (27:30):
So the question was, was the subject on our radar locally as part of our joint terrorism task force and the answer is no.
Vikki Migoya (27:37):
Okay. Thank you very much for being here today. Those are all the questions we're going to take.
Speaker 14 (27:42):
I just have one more. I was just curious about the incendiary. What are they made up of? Are you allowed to talk about what they're made up of or what is this actual devices that were used?
Vikki Migoya (27:51):
Yeah, we'll answer one more.
Speaker 14 (27:52):
Sorry.
Mark Michalek (27:53):
So last question on the specifics on the incendiary devices. There were really two chunks of incendiary devices that were recovered. We've referred to Molotov cocktails, which are like glass jars with material in them that are combustible, flammable, like gasoline, and then a rag that's used with a fire to ignite them and throw them. In addition to that, it appeared he had a backpack for like a weed killer, but that contained flammable liquid in it as well.
Speaker 15 (28:26):
How many were used?
Vikki Migoya (28:27):
All right. So later this afternoon, I can tell you that the US attorney's office will have a brief news release that will be made public. We don't anticipate another large media briefing at any time in the future, but the prosecutor's offices, both the district attorney as well as the US attorney's office, will have updates for the media as their cases proceed. And now at this time, our principals here do have another meeting to attend as they referred to. So thank you very much for coming today.
