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Multiple People Set On Fire In Attack On Boulder March; Boulder Police: Multiple People Set On Fire At Pro-Israeli March. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired June 01, 2025 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[19:02:12]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

And we do begin this hour with breaking news out of Boulder, Colorado, where police say they are investigating after a man reportedly set multiple people on fire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN REDFEARN, BOULDER POLICE CHIEF: A suspect was pointed out to our officers on the scene. Our officers immediately encountered that suspect, who was taken into custody without incident. That suspect who I'm not able to I.D. at this time was taken to the hospital with some minor injuries as well. And there's a lot more we're investigating right now before I'm able to release information on that person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Officials briefed on the investigation tell CNN a man threw Molotov cocktails, bottles of flammable liquid, that hit the ground, exploded into flames. Now, this happened as a group was gathering to support the hostages from October 7th. And here's what one Boulder resident said who's a part of that group but was not present at the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope that Jews will not be scared to come out and protest for our hostages. Now I think that now more than ever we need to be strong in our Judaism and our faith and know that hashem has Israel in his heart, and that it is essential for us as not only Jews, but as humans, to help the vulnerable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Now the FBI and the governor of Colorado have both called this an act of terror. Again, local law enforcement being a bit more cautious in how they're categorizing this. They were saying that they're still working to determine if a group was specifically targeted, if this group was specifically targeted. And we are waiting to get more updates.

In the meantime, we've got John Miller with us, as well as Jonathan Wackrow.

Thank you to both of you for being here.

John, I do want to start with you. I know you've been talking to your sources. What can you tell everyone about what you're learning right now?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, they're still processing that scene. As we discussed earlier, they're still very cautiously examining a car that they believe is in the area that belonged to the suspect, to make sure that there is no additional hazardous devices or anything that poses a threat in that vehicle.

They do have an individual in custody. We do have a name on that individual and are looking into his background, as are investigators. But he appears to be the man that is seen in some of the videos that were taken by bystanders at the scene, who appears to be a white male with gray hair who is shouting after throwing these bottles. People on the video identify him as he's the one who threw the bottles.

In those videos he has one bottle in each hand, one is a spray bottle, the other is a glass bottle, and they are watching him while he yells, waiting for police to arrive. Basically keeping him contained.

[19:05:08]

He stands on a piece of grass behind a bench. That's the individual that we believe police took into custody and are questioning and running the background of. But what we still don't have a clear picture of is what the motive is. Certainly what we have indicators of, Jessica, is, if you look at the attack at the Jewish Museum, the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington a couple of weeks ago, or some of the other incidents that have unfolded around the country, in the world, this is an event for the hostages being held by Hamas.

It occurs on a weekly basis at the same time in the same place, as Brian Stelter pointed out. And it appears that that event and that cause was what was targeted by the throwing of these, what appear to be Molotov cocktails. Bottles that have flammable liquid in them that were apparently lit before they were thrown, which then burst into flames on contact with the ground around that crowd where two people were removed to the hospital. We believe there are somewhere between the two people being treated and maybe three others with lesser injuries that are involved so far.

DEAN: Just a horrific scene out of Boulder tonight.

John, thank you for bringing us up to date with all of that.

I do want to go quickly to Betsy Klein, who I believe is at the White House standing by who we've just getting in some reaction from President Trump.

Betsy, do you have that for us?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN WHITE HOUSE SENIOR CORRESPONDENT AND WRITER: Hi. Yes, Jessica, we are learning that President Trump has been briefed on this incident in Boulder, Colorado, where multiple people were set on fire. That is according to a White House official who declined to provide further details at this time. Of course, the White House is monitoring this quite closely.

President Trump's FBI director, Kash Patel, has referred to this incident as a targeted terror attack. Of course, we know that local law enforcement officials are declining to do so at this time as they are gathering more information about this event. But of course, this comes just days after that Israeli couple, diplomatic officials were killed here in Washington, D.C. at a Jewish museum. So, of course, the White House tracking all of this and how it develops quite closely -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Betsy, stand by. If you hear any more, let us know.

I want to come back now. We have Jonathan Wackrow with us.

And Jonathan, obviously a couple of things. First, let's start with the logistics of all of this and the investigation that's underway. What are investigators looking for? What are they trying to do right now as they look to build their case and make sure that they have everything they need to build a case against a suspect in this case?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Jessica, good evening. And I just want to be very clear here. This was not a random act of violence. And investigators know that. Anytime that you have the utilization of an improvised device, such as a Molotov cocktail, it signals really two things to these investigators. Intent and planning. So by no means was this random whatsoever.

The utilization of fire as a weapon, though, is very interesting. It's often used to inflict chaos, incite fear, sending these symbolic messages. And we've seen that time and time again, not just to cause physical harm, but really to intimidate entire communities. So targeting a demonstration or a peaceful protest that we had today really suggests a motive that's rooted in, you know, some sort of ideology.

But again, I want to caution that we don't have any confirmation on what motive is. But directionally, investigators know that the utilization of these devices against this group specifically really points them and that gives them that this starting point for the investigation. What are they doing right now? Well, they have a suspect in custody. They're going to see if they can question this suspect.

They most likely know who this individual is, and they are going to start running a series of, you know, multiple investigations on this individual, one starting digitally. They're going to look at this digital footprint of the individual to see if there's any type of ideological language that he has used in the past that may lead to a motive. They're going to start executing search warrants, search warrants on the vehicle, search warrants on where this person lives, if he's in this area, or is this going to be a multi-jurisdictional investigation where other resources are brought in to execute these search warrants.

They're going to start interviewing all of the eyewitnesses and getting those, you know, victim and witness statements aligning to, you know, video that we know that we already have. So there's a lot of things that law enforcement is doing right this moment, you know, to identify the actual motive of this individual. But I do want to note that the swift reaction by law enforcement and public safety officials was really remarkable.

[19:10:03]

Bringing this individual into custody without incident and removing them from the scene and then addressing the medical concerns so quickly with the assistance of the public, and I think we heard multiple reporting of that assistance really allowed for this incident to, you know, to be resolved very quickly with, you know, no fatalities.

And I think that that's really important, that swift action by public safety and law enforcement, you know, working in unison to respond to this incident was almost textbook.

DEAN: Yes. And, Jonathan, look, you know, at this moment, directionally, we know where this is headed. We are waiting for official confirmation from authorities. But as John, you noted just a little bit ago, this moment in time, the environment that we're in, you know, just a week or two ago, the two young Israeli diplomats murdered outside the Capital Jewish Museum. Now, to potentially have what this looks likely to be, but we don't know exactly at this moment from law enforcement.

John, I think there are a lot of people in this country. There are Jewish people in this country. There are people who love Jewish people in this country who are concerned about their safety. This is a scary time for that community.

MILLER: Well, it is, and I'm just looking at a statement that was put out by SCN, which is SCN. It's the Secure Community Networks, which supports security in the Jewish community, saying, we're heartbroken to learn an incendiary device was thrown at walkers for the Run for Their Lives Walk on Pearl Street as they were raising awareness for the hostages still held in Gaza. We don't have the details, but they promised to keep their community informed.

And what they're saying is that they're going to be reaching out with whatever information they have to the larger Jewish community. That's synagogues, events, organizations, schools across the country because of, you know, what you refer to, Jessica, which is, this is a threat that is felt far beyond the location of the incident where it happened. And while we're still trying to discern the motive, certainly what they are doing is raising the alert based on the attack at the Capital Museum, the Jewish Museum, a couple of weeks ago, the incident of the governor of Pennsylvania's house over Passover. The New York Police Department put out an intelligence briefing that

was shared with multiple law enforcement agencies across the country just before Passover this year, where they said their analysis from an intelligence standpoint was that as tensions are rising around the events in Gaza, the war with Israel as multiple terrorist organizations around the world are using multiple platforms to encourage attacks by lone wolf actors, particularly on U.S. soil, where these actors will often conflate the Israeli government with the Jewish community as one in terms of sentiment and intent, which, of course, is entirely misread situation.

But that's where they will pick, you know, soft targets with low tech means of attack, in this case, a Molotov cocktail, in the case in Washington, using a firearm, in the case of the governor's mansion in Pennsylvania, again, a Molotov cocktail. These are low tech, low cost. But we see they can be very high impact in terms of in terms of the concern, the fear that they generate.

DEAN: Yes. And Jonathan, to that point, it's what you said earlier that the use of fire from your perspective, from law enforcement perspective, is meant to intimidate. That's the very -- that that's the psychology of it.

WACKROW: Yes. Jessica, you know, the calls for targeted violence, especially against and towards -- directed towards the Jewish community is continued to grow online and gain traction significantly. Especially worrisome to me is this digital dehumanization of Jewish people online. And because of this, law enforcement knows that not just the Jewish community in Boulder was attacked today, but Jewish communities across this country are potentially at risk for being attacked.

So law enforcement across the country right now is, you know, on a heightened sense of alert, really to ensure that there are no copycat attacks. And they're now partnering with local leaders of the Jewish community to reassure the public that, you know, they are aware of, you know, potential, you know, acts of targeted violence in their own communities, and they're taking the appropriate measures to bolster security around key locations. I know New York is well known for quickly mobilizing.

[19:15:01]

I know Commissioner Miller can speak to this, but quickly mobilizing around, you know, synagogues and houses of worship to ensure that, you know, in these critical moments that the community feels safe and secure, mindful that they are always being targeted.

DEAN: Yes, absolutely, Jonathan.

OK, everyone, stay with us. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:20:09] DEAN: We are continuing to follow breaking news tonight out of Boulder, Colorado, where multiple people were injured when a man apparently threw what appeared to be Molotov cocktails toward those people. They apparently exploded into flames, injuring them. We know that they are being treated. The FBI is categorizing this as an act of terror. Local law enforcement being a bit more cautious right now, saying they're still working to determine the exact motive.

We are getting new information, though, from the Department of Justice here. This coming in from my colleague Paula Reid. The Department of Justice saying that Department of Justice's agents with local law enforcement are investigating the tragic attack in Boulder, Colorado. Our hearts and prayers go out to all those affected by this needless act of violence, which follows recent attacks against Jewish Americans. We will follow the facts and prosecute all perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law.

We're getting additional reporting from my colleague Josh Campbell, who reports that federal charges are expected in this case against the suspect or the person they have taken into custody. All we have been told by local law enforcement that is an adult man. But the source Josh is talking to stressing that mental health concerns have not yet been ruled out and that could factor into any charging decision.

I want to go back now to Jonathan Wackrow and John Miller, who are both standing by with us.

John, we're getting that new information now from the feds as they again say, you know, connect this again. We have all been discussing this, that at this point we don't know a motive, but directionally where this is headed is there was a march with Jewish -- the Jewish community that happens weekly where they were there to remember and support and draw attention to the hostages that were taken hostage on October 7th.

And John Miller, we're now getting information that there are likely going to be federal charges in this case as they work to get more information.

MILLER: Well, that is true. The FBI is poised there from the Denver field office. They're bringing in their evidence response team. They're bringing in their -- the ERT people, the forensic people, their own special agent bomb technicians and investigators to look at this. But as was raised a couple of minutes ago by Josh Campbell's reporting, this is a complicated area. First of all, you know, you have people who are committed ideological terrorists.

They are people often motivated by the propaganda and the messaging they've seen from foreign terrorist organizations. And they act on that. I think what we saw at the Capital Museum in Washington, the attack against two Israeli government employees there a couple of weeks ago is a prime example of someone who was very determined and very witting. On the other hand, you have these other incidents where you see people who are experiencing varying levels of mental health issues, who see the same propaganda, who decide that, you know, this is part of their mission. But there is no distinction in the act itself, whether it's the

capability or mental stability of the actor who carries it out. When you throw Molotov cocktails or set off a bomb or open fire, or use a knife in the name of terrorism, for the victims, for categorizing what the event was, it's still a terrorist attack. Determining what and how to charge the individual behind it can be more complicated because you have to factor in what is their mental state. Were they capable of making rational decisions even for an irrational act?

You know, for Boulder, Colorado, in particular, this is really interesting because Boulder is, you know, outside of a major city, Denver, but it's a significant city in its own right. And yet this is their second time that they have dealt with a major incident that may tie to terrorism. In 2021 at the King Soopers Supermarket, there was an active shooter, a 21-year-old man inspired by ISIS,, who opened fire in Boulder at this store.

Ten people were killed, including a police officer who confronted him during the shooting before he was taken down by police. And that was a case where they struggled for a long time to determine whether to categorize it as an act of terrorism, as they struggled based on his mental state, but also his motivation. So this is a process that they have been through before.

[19:25:10]

DEAN: Yes. I want -- stand by. We have brand new video into CNN. I do want to warn you that it is graphic, but we can watch it together. This is the first time we're playing it here so let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And again, you can see people running to help others. You see that cloud of black smoke really billowing out from this kind of Central Park area that we're looking at there in Boulder, Colorado.

Jonathan, as you're looking at this video, again, it's very clear that there was fire and as we know, officials saying that this suspect threw bottles of flammable liquid that exploded in line with the Molotov cocktail.

Jonathan, as you're watching this video, what stands out to you?

WACKROW: So really, I mean, look at it. It was a beautiful day there in Boulder. And then this attack hits and it hits at the core of community trust. You know, this was a peaceful awareness walk. And it instantaneously turned into a battlefield with that rising smoke against the backdrop of the blue sky. I mean, how can this not impact, one, the community of Boulder at large, but more importantly, how can it not impact the Jewish community that was there and gathered, you know, really in support of the hostages that remain?

So again, this attack will have a lasting impact on both the community of Boulder and the Jewish community at large. And again, this is what investigators are looking for right now is, you know, during the moments of that attack, was there anything said by the attacker that is a nexus to a particular ideology?

Now, from the reporting that we just heard, the DOJ seems fairly confident that there is this nexus to terrorism, you know, rooted in some sort of ideology and that we'll see that in, you know, the pending federal charges and those charging documents, you know, here shortly. But they definitely seem to be confident in that right now. But again, when we look at this video, it speaks volumes. You know, just to the, you know, the emotional impact that this attack will have for a while.

DEAN: No doubt about it. Just how horrific, how scary.

Please, both of you, stay with us. I do just want to, as we go to a quick break, we are hearing from the department of -- the Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. She just shared a statement on social media saying that DHS is monitoring this terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado. She says they are working with their interagency partners, including the FBI, and will share more information as soon as it becomes available. She goes on to say, we are praying for the victims and their families. This violence must stop.

We're going to take a break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Welcome back to our breaking news, as we continue to monitor the situation in Boulder, Colorado. I want to read what the Governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, tweeted just a few moments ago: "As the American Jewish Community continues to reel from the horrific antisemitic murders in Washington, D.C., it is unfathomable that the Jewish community is facing another terror attack here in Boulder on the eve of the holiday of Shavuot, no less.

Several individuals were brutally attacked while peacefully marching to draw attention to the plight of the hostages who have been held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza for 604 days. I condemn this vicious act of terrorism and pray for the recovery of the victims."

Again, that is from Colorado's Governor just a few moments ago. I want to come back to John Miller and Jonathan Wackrow, who are standing by as we continue to get more information. John, we just heard that from the Governor. If you can, will you walk viewers through what we know right now?

MILLER: What we know is that a group that is called "Run for Their Lives", it's a Jewish organization that gathers both Jewish community members and non-Jewish community members to every Sunday in Boulder, Colorado. Do a run or a walk in support of the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. They've been doing this for some time. It's a regularly scheduled event. If someone were planning to do an attack then, they were local, they would know the when and where to be.

It's advertised on their site and an individual was waiting towards the end of their walk at 13th Street and Pearl Street by the old courthouse, and there's a park in front of that courthouse. And as the group gathered there passing by, this individual threw one or more, possibly two or three bottles filled with accelerant, that hit the ground, blew up into flames. People were badly burned. One woman, according to witnesses, had her clothes on fire and had to roll on the ground to help and put herself out.

At least two people were taken to the hospital. We are told that others may have been injured with less serious injuries. An individual remained on the scene, according to witnesses and videos that we have reviewed since the incident where he was yelling and holding two bottles as people kind of kept him at bay until police arrived. He has been taken into custody. Boulder Police have his identity and are investigating his background now while they continue to take efforts to obtain search warrants and other things they're going to need to go further.

A car has been located registered to that individual that was being cleared by the bomb squad to make sure that there were no additional hazardous devices that needed to be taken care of or set to go off there. We have not heard back from that effort, but looking at the video and people moving around it is likely that they've completed that process by now and that is pretty much where we are.

[19:35:58]

DEAN: Yes, all right, John, thank you. And, Jonathan, look, we know from reporting from our colleagues, Paula Reid and Josh Campbell, Josh reporting that federal charges are likely in this case. Again, all of this continuing to come together but that they or they haven't ruled out mental health concerns that could impact the charging in this case. What does that what does that say to you.

WACKROW: Listen you know it -- what it says to me is that the investigators are doing their job. They're looking at, you know, all of, you know, evidence that they have at hand. They are working to gather new evidence. You know, the good thing right now is that the suspect is in custody.

And, you know, I just want to just talk about the, you know, the phases of, you know, this type of critical event. You have this attack, the role of law enforcement is to act rapidly, to go to the scene, to apprehend the suspect, to essentially set a perimeter up around the attack site, address any medical concerns that are any victims that need to be addressed. All of those actions have happened very, very quickly.

But once that suspect is in custody and the local law enforcement has made a determination that the public at large is at is safe, you move from a response mode into an investigative mode, and the investigative mode is much slower. It's methodical. It's where you go back and you actually start processing the crime scene. You start interviewing witnesses, you know, the suspect is in custody. If you can interview the suspect that is, you know, beneficial to see if there's any known affiliates or anybody supporting, this activity.

So the time and the pace slows down significantly because there's no additional public threat. We are constantly looking for what is the motive? What is the motive? What is the motive? That may take a little bit of time because the investigators are being methodical in the way that they're approaching this. There's a lot of law enforcement entities between state, local and federal officials now working together.

The FBI is taking a significant role right now as they, you know, seemingly are making a determination that there is a nexus to terrorism. So, we heard Josh Campbell's reporting that there are pending, you know, there are pending federal crimes, you know, charges going to be filed. So, again, there's a lot going on right now.

We just ask you for the public's patience a little bit in, you know, waiting for what that motive actually is confirmed to be. But again, there's a lot of things that indicate that this was based on some sort of ideological basis for this attack. But again, that is yet to be determined and we should have that information, though soon.

DEAN: Yes, all right, we are going to take a quick break. Stand by, we're also going to go back to Julia Vargas Jones. We're getting some interviews with people who were there on the scene. We're going to hear from them when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:43:52]

DEAN: And we continue to follow breaking news out of Boulder, Colorado, as people were gathering there to show support for Israeli hostages, multiple people were set on fire. This is according to police. We do know a suspect is in custody. Police are investigating the Justice Department, saying it will prosecute all perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law. The FBI calling this an act of terror along with the Colorado's Governor. I want to go to CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones. And, Julia, I know you're hearing from some of the people there. What are they saying?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, Jessica, we are starting to hear from some of the witnesses who were there at the time. What we know is that that pro-Israeli demonstration, that peaceful demonstration was taking place at the time, the "Run for Their Lives" has been going for a while every week at the same time.

We heard from this one woman, Brooke Coffman, who described being there with her mother, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE COFFMAN, WITNESS: ... and I saw, like, some flags moving around and like, just like people like wrestling. And I didn't -- it looked like someone was getting beat up or something. So, I kind of just, like, went over there and was like, oh, mom, like, something's happening. Like, this isn't good. And I just like -- I was just, I don't know, yes.

So, I just kind of went over there and I saw, like, this big fire go up, and it looked like a lot of the front area of the courthouse, like the grass, I think it's like cement too right there was on fire. I think it went out pretty quickly and but while I was there, still kind of patches of fire, I started running over and I told my -- I hung up the phone with my mom.

[19:45:37]

I called 911 and they were like -- they said, there's a fire on Pearl and he was like, okay, help is on the way, we're getting a bunch of calls. So, I hung up the phone and people were yelling. There was a kid yelling like, call 911, people we're just yelling, call 911 -- people were running. And I walked -- I jumped over this like this tiny little fence over to these two ladies on the grass and there were two older ladies just like king of rolling around a little bit. They're on their underwear because they have like stripped their pants obviously and yes, I was just like how can I help and they have like really bad burns all up on their legs.

And then I went over to this other grass area, that was like right by the front entrance and there were some people -- there's another lady on the ground with really bad burns on her legs just like screaming and as like that was happening, I was talking to this girl. I was like, what's happening? What's happening? Like, is everything okay? Like, how can we help? And she was like, I don't know. Like, I don't know what's happening.

Like, he's just yelling. And we look over and see this guy just shirtless, screaming stuff. I couldn't make out anything he was saying. But he was just screaming. And he had like, a container or like a glass with gasoline in it, I'm assuming. And he was just kind of holding that waving around. Some guy had mentioned before I was running over that he was armed, but I don't know if that was true. But yes, so, he was just screaming --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: I can't hear her anymore, what happened? A harrowing description there, Jessica, of that moment. We know at around 1:26 local time is when those calls went in to Boulder Police Department, where they heard that a man with a weapon was setting people on fire.

We know that these people were taken to hospital with burns, that that ranged from minimal to quite severe. And we know that there was some kind of liquid we have it has been suggested, Molotov cocktails at that time -- but just that video that we were seeing at the same time, and we're hearing this young woman describe it, is harrowing as you see the fire and the smoke and the people suffering from these burns.

DEAN: Yes, absolutely, just horrific. Julia, thank you for bringing that to us. I also want to update

everyone we are hearing again from Dan Bongino, the Deputy Director of the FBI, just recently posting on X, saying that the "... leadership team on the ground in Boulder will be updating you shortly on the attack in Boulder. This act of terror is being investigated as an act of ideologically motivated violence. Based on the early information, the evidence and the witness accounts, we will speak clearly on these incidents when the facts warrant it."

So again, the deputy director of the FBI confirming there what they say is the act of terror being investigated as an act of ideologically motivated violence. And they're basing that on early information, evidence and witness accounts.

We're going to continue to follow this story. We're going to take a break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:53:35]

DEAN: And back to our breaking news now.

The FBI, state and local officials investigating what they're calling a terror attack in Boulder, Colorado tonight, where people were gathered in a weekly gathering called "Run for Their Lives" to show support for the hostages that were kidnapped in Israel on October 7th.

We're told by police that multiple people were set on fire. We know a suspect is in custody. Officials have not said any more than that. That is an adult male at this point. The Justice Department saying it will prosecute all the perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law.

All we know about this group is that they do meet weekly, that they are focused on their website, they talk about, the events meant to be quiet and peaceful, that it is a family friendly event, that people can come together and join together once a week to remember the hostages. And that's what this is about.

I do want to go to Jeremy Harlan, who is a CNN video producer who's there on the scene. And, Jeremy, you've been tracking the law enforcement response there as they continue state, local and federal law enforcement to secure this scene and try to put all the pieces together. What are you seeing?

JEREMY HARLAN, CNN PRODUCER: Right now I'm seeing, really a combination of all those local law enforcement that we've talked about, Boulder Police, Boulder County Sheriff and FBI investigators, as we know, we've heard from the FBI saying they would investigate this.

We have seen that I've seen currently the bomb squad is gathered together. There's a -- they have the robot out. Earlier, I saw Boulder Police with their canine units checking vehicles just to get a sense of where I'm standing. I'm roughly a good two blocks from where the incident occurred. So, they have a pretty wide area blocked off here in Boulder to do

this investigation. If people aren't familiar with Pearl Street Mall, it is easily the most popular pedestrian mall in Boulder. Tons of traffic, especially on a beautiful Sunday -- spring day. So, there would have been a lot of people around seeing this. And I think we're seeing a lot of videos coming in of people, you know, showing that incident right now.

[19:55:46]

Again, just law enforcement really starting to kind of investigate the area. We -- there are no news helicopters above the air. We had heard that local authorities were worried they were trying to use drones to investigate. The helicopters were bothering that investigation. So, it is now quiet in the skies for the drones. But, you know, typical as we know, we've seen these before. Really. They're just in the investigation and trying to piece together what exactly happened in the motive for it -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Jeremy Harlan, thank you so much, reporting from the ground there in Boulder, Colorado.

Again, we are waiting to hear exactly what the motive is here. But directionally, and as we've discussed with all of our experts tonight, it seems that this group was targeted. And we know for sure that there are victims who are suffering from burn wounds and some of them life threatening, that's what were told by authorities tonight. And we certainly are thinking about them and their families.

Thank you so much for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. We're going to see you again right back here next weekend.

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