Multiple people have been injured after a man shouting “free Palestine” tossed Molotov cocktails at a gathering in support of Israeli hostages in Colorado, authorities say.

Police said eight people – aged 52 to 88 – were injured in the attack at the Pearl Street Mall, a popular outdoor space in Boulder, about 30 miles (48km) from Denver.

The FBI called it a suspected terror attack and said the suspect used a makeshift flamethrower, Molotov cocktails and other incendiary devices.

Footage of the attack shows the suspect, who was shirtless, screaming at the group and had what appears to be Molotov cocktails in each hand when he was arrested.

The attack unfolded during a weekly scheduled demonstration put on by Run for Their Lives, a pro-Israeli group that holds walks in the outdoor pedestrian mall in solidarity with Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Police got calls around 13:26 local time (19:26 GMT) about a man with a weapon and people being set on fire, Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said at a news conference.

Officers who responded found multiple people injured, including those with burns.

One of the people hurt in the attack was a Holocaust survivor, according to Rabbi Israel Wilhelm, the Chabad director at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Speaking to the BBC’s US partner CBS News, Wilhelm described the 88-year-old as a “very loving person”.

The attack is the second high-profile act of violence in the US in the last two weeks that appears to be related to the conflict in Gaza.

A man who shouted “free Palestine” fatally shot two Israeli embassy employees outside a Jewish museum in Washington DC on 22 May. The incident happened at a networking event organised by a Jewish organisation.

After Sunday’s incident, witnesses told authorities that the suspect used a “makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device into the crowd,” said Mark Michalek, who heads the FBI’s Denver office.

Redfearn added that those devices included Molotov cocktails, which he said were tossed at the crowd.

Mr Michalek identified the suspect as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45.

He is an Egyptian national, government officials told CBS. In 2022, Mr Soliman arrived in California on a non-immigrant visa that expired in February 2023, multiple sources told the broadcaster. He had been living in Colorado Springs.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said Mr Soliman had been given a work permit after his visa expired under the previous administration of President Joe Biden. The BBC has not verified this.

Warning: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.

Footage that appeared to be from the attack showed a chaotic scene: smoke filling the air, people running in multiple directions, spots of grass on fire and people injured on the ground.

In images and videos posted online, a man who appears to be the suspect is seen without a shirt and holding bottles with liquid with a piece of red cloth inside. He can be heard yelling at the crowd and appears to be advancing on them as some rush to flee.

As he screams, one woman is on the ground and appears injured. People surround her and one man pours water on her body.

Footage shows police rushing to the scene and arresting the suspect. Police say he was taken to the hospital with injuries.

“It is clear that this is a targeted act of violence and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism,” Mr Michalek said. “Sadly, attacks like this are becoming too common across the country.”

Colorado’s Attorney General Phil Weiser said that from what officials knew, the attack “appears to be hate crime given the group that was targeted”.

“People may have differing views about world events and the Israeli-Hamas conflict, but violence is never the answer to settling differences,” Weiser said in a statement on Sunday. “Hate has no place in Colorado.”

Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said he was “shocked” by the incident and called the attack “pure antisemitism”.

“Shocked by the terrible antisemitic terror attack targeting Jews in Boulder, Colorado,” he wrote on X. “This is pure antisemitism, fuelled by the blood libels spread in the media.”

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, similarly was saddened over the attack, calling it “terrorism” and asking for “concrete action” in response.

In a post on X, the ambassador said that Jewish protesters were brutally attacked”.

“Terrorism against Jews does not stop at the Gaza border – it is already burning the streets of America,” he said.

The suspect accused of gunning down two Israeli embassy staff members outside a Jewish museum in Washington DC has been charged with first-degree murder, as well as murder of foreign officials and related firearm charges.

Wednesday night’s attack is being investigated as a hate crime, and more charges are expected, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said at a news conference.

“This is a death penalty-eligible case,” she said on Thursday, adding that it is too early to say whether prosecutors will decide to seek a death sentence.

Steve Jenson, from the FBI’s Washington DC field office, called the killings “an act of terror and directed violence against the Jewish community”.

Couple Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim were shot dead outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC around 21:08 local time (02:08 BST) on Wednesday, police said. The suspect opened fire on a group of four exiting the event, killing the two victims, police said.

Police identified the suspect as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago who had bought a ticket to the museum event about three hours before it began. He was arrested at the scene shortly after the shooting.

Witnesses said he was seen pacing outside the museum before opening fire.

According to details in an affidavit, Elias Rodriguez initially opened fire on the victims, then reloaded and shot again “several more times” at closer range.

It said that when one victim tried to crawl away, he followed behind and fired again.

Investigators recovered 21 spent 9mm cartridges at the scene. Police also found a handgun with its slide locked back, indicating it was empty, along with an empty magazine.

Eyewitnesses told the BBC he initially was mistaken for a traumatised bystander, and given aid inside the museum.

One witness, Yoni Kalin, said people inside had been “calming him down”. “Little did we know he was somebody that executed people in cold blood,” he said.

Police said the suspect also shouted “free Palestine” before he was taken into custody.

The suspect landed in the Washington DC area one day earlier, Jenson said, and investigators are still piecing together his whereabouts before the attack. According to an affidavit, officials believe he flew on Tuesday from Chicago to Washington DC for a work conference.

Social media accounts linked to the suspect show he worked at the American Osteopathic Information Association (AOIA) in Chicago as an administrative specialist since 2024.

At his court hearing Thursday, the suspect was charged and ordered to remain in detention. His next hearing was scheduled for 18 June.

Israel’s ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter said shortly after the shooting that Mr Lischinsky planned to propose to Ms Milgrim during an upcoming trip they had planned to Jerusalem.

“They were a beautiful couple,” Leiter said at a news conference.

A vigil for Ms Milgrim was expected on Thursday in her hometown of Kansas City. She previously had spoken out about her fears of antisemitism in American public life. In 2017, she was interviewed by a local TV station after her school in Kansas was vandalised with a Nazi swastika.

“I worry about going to my synagogue, and now I have to worry about safety at school and that shouldn’t be a thing,” said Ms Milgrim, who was in her final year of high school at the time.

Police said the suspect was not on their radar and has no prior interactions with law enforcement. They said he admitted to the attack and is believed to have acted alone.

The gun used in the attack was a 9mm handgun legally purchased in Illinois in March 2020 and brought to Washington in his checked luggage. Illinois has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the US.

Social media accounts linked to the suspect also indicate that he was heavily involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement. Investigators said they were working to authenticate writings online purportedly authored by him, accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, criticising US policy and discussing the use of political violence.

The affidavit said that in an interview with detectives, Elias Rodriguez referenced a 2024 incident in which a man set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC, expressing admiration for the act and calling the man a “martyr” for his protest over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A home linked to the suspect in Chicago was seen being searched on Thursday, and authorities also said they were scouring his electronic devices.

One of his neighbours in Chicago, John Wayne Fry, told reporters that he lived in the same apartment building as the suspect for around a year.

The suspect displayed a photo outside his flat of a Palestinian-American child who was killed in Chicago in 2023, Mr Fry said.

The man who killed six-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi was convicted of hate crime charges earlier this month. Officials said he was motivated by hatred for Islam and the conflict in Gaza.

It is unclear whether the suspect had any direct contact with the boy’s family.

Jojo Kalin, one of the event’s organisers in Washington DC, told the BBC that the event the victims attended was focused on how to build a coalition to help people suffering in Gaza amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

She added it is “deeply ironic that what we were discussing was bridge building and then we were all hit over the head with such hatred”.

The attack was condemned by world leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said he “thoroughly” condemns the “antisemitic attack” in Washington DC.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack “a heinous antisemitic murder” and added that security would be increased for Israeli representatives and diplomatic missions worldwide.

US President Donald Trump also decried antisemitism in response to the attack, writing on his social media platform Truth Social that “hatred and radicalism have no place in the USA.”

Trump and Netanyahu later spoke over the phone about the incident, where the US president expressed sorrow to his Israeli counterpart, according to a readout of the call.

With reporting from Mike Wendling in Chicago