Authorities in Boulder, Colorado, hold a press briefing after an "act of terrorism" was committed near the Pearl Street Mall.
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00:00The FBI shares in the sorrow of the Boulder community, especially to those who have family or friends injured in this tragedy.
00:08We have surged resources and personnel to the scene.
00:12Our special agents, our victim specialists and evidence response teams are doing everything they can to assist our law enforcement partners.
00:21In the coming days, we will continue to support the victims and help uncover the events leading up to this terrible attack.
00:27Know that we stand with you, we grieve with you, and we are here to help for as long as it takes.
00:34We're early in the investigation, but some details have emerged.
00:38I'm able to confirm there are six victims, ages 67 to 88.
00:44All of them have been transported to local hospitals.
00:49This attack happened at a regularly scheduled, weekly, peaceful event.
00:53Witnesses are reporting that the subject used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device into the crowd.
01:02The suspect was heard to yell, free Palestine, during the attack.
01:08The subject has been identified as Mohammed Sabri Salomon, and he's 45 years old.
01:15The FBI is processing the crime scene in the subject vehicle and interviewing key witnesses.
01:21We're assisting Boulder Police in providing technical, analytic, and additional forensic resources.
01:28As a result of these preliminary facts, it is clear that this is a targeted act of violence,
01:33and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism.
01:38Sadly, attacks like this are becoming too common across the country.
01:41This is an example of how perpetrators of violence continue to threaten communities across our nation.
01:48It's our job, the FBI, the Boulder Police, and our law enforcement and community partners,
01:54to bring these criminals to justice and keep our communities safe.
01:58We're asking for the public's help as we continue to investigate this horrific act of violence.
02:03I'll direct anyone that has phone calls, that wants to make phone calls, to 1-800-CALL-FBI.
02:10And if you have digital evidence, whether that is video or social media posts or anything that can help the investigators,
02:17please send that to fbi.gov backslash boulderattack, B-O-U-L-D-E-R-A-T-T-A-C-K.
02:26Our strength as a society comes from our shared values and our commitment to protecting one another.
02:39Any attempt to divide us through fear or harm has no place in Boulder, in Colorado, or anywhere in our nation.
02:48We stand in full solidarity with those targeted, and we will continue to ensure that justice is pursued swiftly,
02:55that support is provided to victims in their communities, and preventative action is taken to protect everyone's safety.
03:02And I'll turn it over to Boulder Police Chief Redford.
03:08Thank you, Special Agent in charge.
03:10As was mentioned, my name is Stephen Redford, and I serve as the police chief here in Boulder.
03:14I want to thank, first and foremost, the FBI for their swift response today,
03:20and our partnerships which preceded this attack today.
03:23We are very grateful for their assistance, and we'll be working hand-in-hand moving forward.
03:29I want to give first an update on the scene.
03:31As many of you are aware, we have several blocks closed off in downtown Boulder surrounding the courthouse.
03:37We are still clearing that area for devices.
03:40We have multiple teams of K-9 and our bomb squad and hazmat teams in that area.
03:48I cannot, at this point, give you a time, an estimated time, for opening of that area downtown.
03:54We're hopeful it will be this evening.
03:56We understand that people's vehicles are in that area that's closed, and they'd like to get them.
04:01Please follow the Boulder Police Twitter account or other social media as well.
04:05We will report on that when we open that area.
04:10We want to be reasonably sure as best as we can before we open the area and let people go back there to businesses to get their vehicles that it is as safe as possible.
04:19The courthouse, I will announce, the courthouse will be closed tomorrow.
04:24There is business in that courthouse through the Boulder County.
04:27It will be closed tomorrow as we continue this investigation.
04:30Just a couple of mentions, we know there's other events, including things going on this evening in town in the coming week,
04:39and we are ensuring that we have resources there at those events to ensure that people are able to go about their business safely in light of this attack.
04:49But, as always, we urge people to call 911.
04:52Call us if they see suspicious behavior, if they see someone that's acting in a manner that appears to be suspicious.
04:59We would like to receive that call, go out, and verify whether somebody's behavior is malicious or not.
05:06I want to thank our law enforcement partners.
05:08I started by thanking the FBI.
05:10But when this call came out today, we asked for help from all of our partnering agencies, some of whom are here today, and I can't thank you enough.
05:16It's not the first time we've had to do that here in Boulder, and it's not the first time that we've had to do that in the metro area.
05:22And the special agent-in-charge reference partnerships, when we put out the call today, we had a lot of help, both locally and from the region,
05:29and I really can't thank our partners enough.
05:32Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the first responders today.
05:37When this call came out today, our officers rushed as quickly as they could somewhere close to the area,
05:43and they immediately ran into a chaotic situation where a man was throwing Molotov cocktails and using other devices to hurt people.
05:51Our officers, as they're trained, immediately interacted with the suspect, took him into custody, and then began rendering aid to those victims.
05:58And I'm very proud of our response today.
06:00I'm very proud of our partners as well with the fire department as well as American Medical Response.
06:05Before we take some questions, I just want to say that Boulder is not immune to tragedy, sadly, and I know a lot of people are scared right now.
06:17A lot of people are upset and questioning how this happened and why.
06:23All I know is Boulder has recovered before from acts of violence, and we will again recover.
06:29I urge the community in this time to come together.
06:32Now is not the time to be divisive, and we will continue to ensure community safety along with all of our partners.
06:40To echo the special agent in charge comments, our hearts go out to everyone affected today.
06:45Here and in Colorado, we understand that this has a ripple effect in many communities,
06:50and we are continuing to stand with and support the victims affected today by this attack.
06:57With that, I think we'll turn it back over to our public information officers.
07:02We've got time for a few questions.
07:11I'll call on some folks.
07:13Vicki, I have a question for a special agent McCulloch.
07:16Is there any information that could indicate that this individual that is in custody is linked to a greater network or any particular group?
07:27Not at this time.
07:28The subject is in custody, but this will be a thorough and complete investigation, and those checks are ongoing.
07:33Colleen?
07:37Colleen?
07:38Could you please tell us the spelling of this suspect's name and what custody he's in?
07:45Is he going to face federal charges or state charges?
07:47What's next for him?
07:49I've got it in there.
07:50His name is spelled Mohamed, M-O-H-A-M-E-D, Sabry, S-A-B-R-Y, Solomon, S-O-L-I-M-A-N.
08:10And we are early in the investigative process, but both teams are working side-by-side collaboratively, and we'll see where the investigation goes.
08:24Yeah, Kaylee.
08:25For the chief, any update on victims' conditions, how they're doing?
08:32Yes, and I'm not sure if we stated prior, but it's been reported to us that the victims' age ranged from about 67 to 88, I believe we mentioned.
08:42We know that four of those victims were taken to Boulder Community Hospital and remain there or have been released.
08:50I don't know the status of that.
08:51Two additional victims were airlifted to the Denver metro area, I believe to Aurora Hospital burn unit.
09:00At this time, all six victims are still being treated.
09:04And, again, our thoughts are heavily focused on their recovery right now.
09:09Anything on the conditions of that?
09:11So the question was about the condition of the victims.
09:15The last update I had is that at least one victim was very seriously injured, probably safe to say critical condition, and then other victims received more minor injuries.
09:26I think there's a wide range, but I'm not – we haven't talked to doctors yet and gotten an actual rundown of specific injuries.
09:33And it doesn't include the suspect, does it?
09:34The suspect was injured.
09:36The suspect was taken to the hospital, and he was examined there as well.
09:40I'm not sure if he's been taken to the correctional facility yet or not.
09:44One more question.
09:45Are there people on my committee witnesses that say there was a second attacker?
09:49Can you speak to that at all?
09:51What I can say, and I will say that, you know, I've been involved in several of these mass casualty events in my career,
09:59and there is almost always reports of multiple suspects.
10:02It's very typical.
10:03We did receive reports of differing descriptions.
10:06From everything we know in the witness briefings and interviews that we've done at this point, we do not believe that there is an additional suspect at large.
10:15We're not going to say that with absolute certainty because we're still conducting a lot of interviews.
10:19But we believe that the initial report of two suspects, we have not been able to confirm that, and we're fairly confident we have the lone suspect in custody.
10:29All right, so we also had a question about the prosecution.
10:36Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty is present and can elaborate a little bit on that.
10:41I'll turn the mic over to him at this time.
10:43Good evening.
10:47I'm Michael Dougherty.
10:48I'm the District Attorney for Boulder County, and first I want to echo what the Chief and the Special Agent in Charge said.
10:53Our hearts go out to the victims, their loved ones, and our community.
10:57I also want to recognize the community members who responded and tried to render aid in the moments after this horrific attack took place,
11:05as well as who helped law enforcement, which acted with great courage in apprehending the suspect who is now in custody.
11:13I will emphasize that we're in the very early stages here, but the response by federal, state, and local officials is underway,
11:21and I greatly appreciate the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
11:24There are many agents.
11:25We have the Colorado State Patrol here, Boulder County Sheriff's Office, and, of course, the Boulder Police Department.
11:30They are working hand-in-hand to ensure that we secure all the evidence, all the information, and all the witness statements we need
11:37to hold the attacker fully accountable.
11:41That is my promise, to hold the attacker fully accountable.
11:48The U.S. Attorney's Office and my office have a strong working relationship.
11:52We've worked on cases in the past, and as you know, when it's a mass attack,
11:57whether it be King Soopers, Club Q, Planned Parenthood, the list goes on and on,
12:02and unfortunately and tragically, that list is too long for the state of Colorado.
12:06But from those experiences, we have forged really strong working relationships
12:09in ensuring that we do everything possible, everything we can do and need to do,
12:13to secure justice for the victims, their family members, and the Boulder community,
12:18as well as the state of Colorado.
12:20So we're in close communication with the U.S. Attorney's Office.
12:22The U.S. Attorney and I just spoke on the phone again now,
12:24and in the coming days, decisions will be made about what charges to file and where.
12:29There's a couple different options.
12:31But what I would stress now, most importantly, is we are fully united, 100%,
12:36in making sure the charges we bring hold the attacker fully accountable.
12:42Thank you very much.
12:43All right.