A Jewish man who recently moved across the street from the suspected antisemitic firebomber who attacked advocates hosting a solidarity walk in Colorado for Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas believes he is “lucky” that he and his family weren’t also targeted.

David Costello, a Messianic Jew who moved to Colorado Springs just last week, said he had little interaction with alleged terrorist Mohamed Sabry Soliman. The family of seven, who all dress in traditional Jewish attire, were flabbergasted by the attack and have been left wondering if he would’ve gone after them.

“I mean, I’m pretty recognizably Jewish … I feel grateful that I never put out an Israeli flag like I was going to. And I also have a question of, ‘Why not me?’” Costello said.

“He obviously saw a Jewish neighbor was moving in. Why didn’t he torch me? I’m glad he didn’t. I’m thankful that he didn’t torch our house, but kind of sad for the people in Boulder who he did.”

The day of the attack, Costello and his family, including his wife and their five children, were celebrating a picnic to ring in the Messianic Shavuot — and noticed Soliman’s wife lurking nearby.

“While he was doing that, she was walking around a big Messianic Jewish thing that was happening over here. She was just sort of suspiciously walking around,” Costello said, adding that the madman’s wife had given his family food when they moved in that they had to discard because it wasn’t kosher.

“My thing is to celebrate my holiday, to enjoy my holiday, and to do what he tried to stop, which is enjoy life and spread love to others.”

Soliman specifically told authorities that he “wanted to kill all Zionist people” after the attack, according to court documents. He also planned on dying during the attack, even going so far as to leave a note for his family on his desk at home. 

“I really hope the news folk stop saying over and over again that the Jews are committing genocide, because people are believing it. And I think he’s believing that Jews are committing genocide, and so therefore he looks at us as Nazis,” Costello said.

Shortly after allegedly torching the participants, video footage captured by bystanders showed Soliman in the midst of a tirade calling for “Free Palestine” and asking his victims how many children they had killed. 

He appeared in court on Monday and was charged with federal hate crimes and 16 counts of first-degree attempted murder for his attack that left 12 people injured.