Man gets life in prison in Colorado firebombing attack on pro-Israel demonstrators

A man who killed one person and injured a dozen more in a firebombing attack on demonstrators showing support for Israeli hostages in Gaza was sentenced Thursday to life in prison plus over 2,000 more years immediately after pleading guilty to first-degree murder and dozens of other state charges.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman said he wished he could get the death penalty under Colorado law and asked federal authorities to seek capital punishment against him in the related hate crime case pending against him in federal court.

“The court finds your choices were acts of terror and they victimized an entire community and they made everyone in it feel unsafe,” Boulder County District Judge Nancy Salomone said in handing down the sentence of life in prison without parole plus 2,128 years. Soliman pleaded guilty to 101 counts which took the judge nearly an hour to read.

The attack rattled the Jewish community and made some afraid to attend large events or wear Star of David pendants. Several victims told Salomone that the image of Karen Diamond, 82, being burned, while people tried to put out the flames, lingered in their memory. One said the smell of gasoline brings him back to the day of the attack.

Read more: Colorado Sun