() Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman has been charged with a federal hate crime for an attack that injured 12 people in Boulder, Colorado.
Soliman is accused of throwing an incendiary device into a crowd of demonstrators calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Prosecutors said he posed as a gardener and planned to kill everyone at the peaceful demonstration on Sunday.
Instead, he threw out only two of the 18 incendiary devices he’d brought, accidentally burning himself as he shouted “Free Palestine,” authorities said. According to a police affidavit, Soliman didn’t carry out his full plan “because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before.”
Soliman told investigators he planned the attack for more than a year while living in the United States on a visa that expired more than two years ago.
Boulder attack suspect’s visa timeline
Soliman came to the U.S. on a tourist visa in August 2022, according to a source from the Department of Homeland Security. One month later, he applied for asylum.
Soliman, his wife and their five children have been living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, since.
He has lived in the country on an expired visa since February 2023, though he was granted a work permit in March 2023. That work permit expired in March 2025.
According to a spokesperson for Uber, his former employer, Soliman passed the company’s eligibility requirements, which included a criminal background check.
In 2023, around 314,000 people overstayed tourist or other temporary visas, of which about 2,400 were Egyptian, per DHS data.
White House reacts to Boulder ‘terrorist attack’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a warning to terrorists and terrorist sympathizers in the U.S. on a visa: “Under the Trump administration we will find you, revoke your visa, and deport you.”
But tracking overstays on this visa is challenging. Following the attack, DHS revamped its Immigration and Customs Enforcement tip line and asked for the public’s help identifying those overstaying their welcome.
“Yesterday’s terrorist attack by a suspect illegally in our country underscores the importance of getting these illegal aliens out of our country,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Secretary Noem is revamping ICE’s illegal alien tip line to devote more resources and personnel to help remove these criminal illegal aliens from our country.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has placed the blame on the previous administration.
“We know that this individual, this terrorist, was allowed into this country by the previous administration, was foolishly given a tourism visa, and then was illegally allowed to stay. These individuals are going to be deported,” Leavitt said on Monday.
It is unclear what will happen to Soliman’s wife and five children, who are still in the U.S.
