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Federal sources told Fox News late Sunday that the suspect accused in Sunday’s firebombing attack in Colorado was in the US illegally, having overstayed a visa issued under the Biden administration.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian national, was arrested after attacking a pro-Israel group in Boulder that was advocating for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Three senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources said Soliman entered the US on a nonimmigrant visa in Aug. 2022, which expired in Feb. 2023. He later filed for asylum and was granted temporary work authorization under the Biden administration, which expired this March.
Soliman has reportedly been living illegally in the US since.
According to police reports and witnesses, during the attack, Soliman wielded a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device into the crowd while repeatedly shouting “free Palestine” and “end Zionist.”
Six people, aged 67 to 88, were hospitalized with burns and other injuries.
President Donald Trump condemned the attack on X, linking Soliman’s presence in the US to former President Joe Biden’s border policies.
“Yesterday’s horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the United States of America,” he wrote on X. “He came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. He must go out under ‘TRUMP’ Policy. Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law. This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland. My heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy, and the Great People of Boulder, Colorado!”
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino confirmed late Sunday that the attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism.
“This act of terror is being investigated as an act of ideologically motivated violence based on the early information, the evidence, and witness accounts,” Bongino wrote on social media. “We will speak clearly on these incidents when the facts warrant it.”
Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard added that her agency is also working with federal and local authorities.
“National Counterterrorism Center is working with the FBI and local law enforcement on the ground investigating the targeted terror attack against a weekly meeting of Jewish community members who had just gathered in Boulder, CO to raise awareness of the hostages kidnapped during Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7,” she wrote.
The Boulder incident comes just weeks after 2 Israeli embassy staff were shot and killed at an American Jewish Committee event, in what Bongino called a “targeted act of anti-Semitic violence.” The suspect reportedly shouted “free Palestine” as he was arrested.
