Highland Park shooting witness was supposed to be part of group attacked in CO, 'saw people burning'

BOULDER, Colo. (WLS) -- A Highland Park native who witnessed the aftermath of the 2022 Fourth of July parade shooting was supposed to be part of the group attacked in Boulder, Colorado over the weekend.

"I immediately rode my bike to the courthouse and saw people burning," Aaron Brooks said.

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Brooks described the surreal horror of that moment.

The Highland Park native was seen in cell phone video, after prosecutors say 45-year-old Mohamed Soliman used a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to injure a dozen people at their weekly walk to draw attention to Israeli hostages.

"He screamed, 'you're burning my people' or 'you burned my people,'" Brooks said.

Soliman, who appeared in court in an orange jumpsuit with his head bandaged Monday, allegedly drove about 100 miles to Boulder from his Colorado Springs home.

Court papers say he admitted that he "...researched on YouTube how to make Molotov Cocktails..." and authorities allegedly found a "backpack weed sprayer" containing "87 octane gasoline" and "...sixteen unlit Molotov cocktails."

"And when he was interviewed about the attack, he said he wanted them all to die. He had no regrets, and he would go back and do it again," said J. Bishop Grewell, acting U.S. attorney for Colorado.

The attack comes less than two weeks after two Israeli embassy staffers were shot and killed while leaving an event in Washington, D.C.

"We can't continue to say, well you know, this is new state of things. No, again, it's antithetical to who we are as Americans," said Lonnie Nasatir, Jewish United Fund Chicago president and CEO.

Brooks says he usually attends those weekly walks in Boulder, but was running late on Sunday.

He says the discourse in the U.S. must change.

"Let's get to talking with one another about what we really can do to make this world better, and that means reaching across the aisle, getting out of our algorithms and talking," Brooks said.

This isn't the first mass casualty incident Brooks has witnessed in the U.S. He also saw the carnage of the Highland Park shooting firsthand.