A man accused of setting fire to people who had gathered in downtown Boulder on Sunday to walk in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza entered the U.S. from Egypt in 2022 and had overstayed his tourist visa, federal authorities said.
The suspect, Mohamed Soliman, 45, is being held at the Boulder County jail in the attack, online jail records show.
Soliman, of El Paso County, is scheduled to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. in Boulder County.
Eight people were injured in the attack, which is being investigated as an act of terrorism, some with burns. They ranged in ages from 52 to 88. At least one of the victims was in critical condition Sunday evening, police said.
The FBI, which is investigating the attack alongside Boulder police, said Soliman yelled “free Palestine” as he attacked the group of people walking on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall to raise awareness of the hostages kidnapped during Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The attack happened on the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which is marked with the reading of the Torah. The Boulder incident came 11 days after a man who also yelled “free Palestine” as he allegedly shot two Israeli diplomats outside of a Jewish museum in Washington.
Mark D. Michalek, special agent in charge of the FBI in Denver, said Sunday evening that authorities are investigating the attack as an act of terrorism.
Soliman came to the U.S. in August 2022 on a B-2 visa that expired in February 2023, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. B-2 visas are used by people entering the U.S. temporarily for things like vacations or to get medical care.
Soliman filed for asylum in September 2022. McLaughlin did not answer The Colorado Sun’s question on the status of his petition.
McLaughlin said Soliman is living in the U.S. illegally.
Public records listed Soliman as living in a rented townhouse in Colorado Springs, where local media outlets reported federal law enforcement agents were on the scene Sunday.
An X account under the suspect’s name and with a profile photo that appeared to match the man arrested was created in 2022 and had never made a post. He followed only 18 other accounts, including Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, the mayor of Colorado Springs, the local police department and several area news outlets.
Boulder police are expected to provide more information Monday.
Investigators said Monday morning that no one injured in the attack had died despite online jail records showing that Soliman was being held on suspicion of first-degree murder. That’s an “arrest-only” charge that will be modified as prosecutors firm up their case.
It can be days, if not weeks, before Colorado prosecutors file formal charges against suspects in crimes as complex as the attack Sunday in Boulder.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement Monday saying he, his wife and the entire nation of Israel were praying for the full recovery of the people wounded in the “vicious terror attack” in Colorado.
“This attack was aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews,” Netanyahu said.
Alex Osante of San Diego said he was having lunch on a restaurant patio across the pedestrian mall when he heard the crash of a bottle breaking on the ground and a “boom” sound followed by people yelling and screaming.
In a video of the scene captured by Osante, people could be seen pouring water on a woman lying on the ground who Osante said had caught on fire during the attack. A man, who later identified himself as an Israeli visiting Boulder who decided to join the group that day, ran up to Osante on the video asking for some water to help.
After the initial attack, Osante said the suspect went behind some bushes and then reemerged and threw a Molotov cocktail but apparently accidentally caught himself on fire as he threw it. The man then took off his shirt and what appeared to be a bulletproof vest before the police arrived. The man dropped to the ground and was arrested without any apparent resistance in the video that Osante filmed.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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