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‘Terror’ attack in downtown Boulder leaves multiple victims injured

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Quentin Young
(Colorado Newsline)

Multiple people were injured Sunday in downtown Boulder when a man reportedly lit them on fire, according to local police.

Officers took a suspect into custody. The victims’ injuries ranged from serious to minor. Victims and the suspect were transported to hospitals in the region. Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn during a late afternoon press conference did not specify the number of victims. The attack took place near the Boulder County Courthouse on the Pearl Street Mall.

The area is in the heart of the city and typically attracts hundreds of people on the weekend.

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Kash Patel, director of the FBI, called the incident a “targeted terror attack,” and Colorado Governor Jared Polis said it was a “heinous act of terror.”

Participants in the Boulder branch of Run For Their Lives, which organizes events calling for the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, were in the area at the time of the attack.

The Anti-Defamation League said on social media it was “monitoring the situation in Colorado.”

Phil Weiser, Colorado’s attorney general, indicated the group was targeted.

“From what we know, this attack appears to be a hate crime given the group that was targeted,” Weiser said in a statement. “People may have differing views about world events and the Israeli-Hamas conflict, but violence is never the answer to settling differences. Hate has no place in Colorado.”

Redfearn said it was too early in the law enforcement investigation to assign motive.

“We are not calling it a terror attack at this point,” he said. “I cannot confirm right now that this was targeted at a specific group of people … Once we have a clear motive, we will react accordingly.”

Boulder police were expected to provide more information about the investigation later Sunday.