US immigration authorities detain the family of the man charged in the Colorado attack
BOULDER Colo AP The wife and five children of an Egyptian man accused of firebombing an event in Colorado in encouragement of Israeli hostages were taken into custody Tuesday by U S immigration executives and threatened with a swift deportation The family of Mohamed Sabry Soliman could be deported as early as Tuesday night the White House mentioned in a post on X It s rare that family members of a person accused of a crime are detained and threatened with deportation in this way Soliman disguised as a gardener had planned to kill all of the roughly participants in Sunday s demonstration and had Molotov cocktails but he threw just two while yelling Free Palestine police reported Soliman who federal officials say has been living in the U S illegally didn t carry out his full plan because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before police wrote in an affidavit The two incendiary devices he threw were enough to injure of the participants in the weekly demonstration held at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall in downtown Boulder executives reported noting that he expressed no remorse about the attack Soliman stated executives that no one including his family knew about his plans for the attack according to court documents that at times spelled his name as Mohammed According to an FBI affidavit Soliman recounted police he was driven by a desire to kill all Zionist people a reference to the movement to establish and protect a Jewish state in Israel Soliman left an iPhone hidden in a desk drawer at his Colorado Springs home that contained messages to his family according to an FBI affidavit After his arrest his wife gave his phone to police saying it was his but was also used by other family members Defendant s immigration status Soliman was born in el-Motamedia an Egyptian farming village in the Nile Delta province of Gharbia that s located about kilometers miles north of Cairo according to an Egyptian safeguard official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn t authorized to talk to the media Soliman was also a handball participant for a club in Cairo the club s former chairman wrote on Facebook Before moving to Colorado Springs three years ago he spent years in Kuwait according to court documents He has been living in the U S illegally having arrived in August on a tourist visa that expired in February Department of Homeland Prevention Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin reported in a post on X She revealed Soliman filed for asylum in September and was granted a work authorization in March but that it also expired The immigration status of his wife and children is not clear and DHS did not respond to requests for additional information Hundreds of thousands of people overstay their visas each year in the United States according to the Homeland Protection Department reports The overstay rate for Egyptians on business or tourist visas is low compared to several other countries The development against Soliman Soliman described executives that he had been planning the attack for a year and was waiting for his daughter to graduate before carrying it out the affidavit noted A newspaper in Colorado Springs that profiled one of Soliman s children in April notes the family s journey from Egypt to Kuwait and then to the U S It mentioned after initially struggling in school she landed academic honors founded an Arabic club and volunteered at a local hospital as part of her plan to attend therapeutic school Soliman presently faces federal hate crime charges and attempted murder charges at the state level but executives say additional charges could be brought He s being held in a county jail on a million bond His attorney Kathryn Herold declined to comment after a state court hearing Monday The attack unfolded against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war which continues to inflame global tensions and has contributed to a spike in antisemitic violence in the United States The attack happened at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot and barely a week after a man who also yelled Free Palestine was charged with fatally shooting two Israeli Embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington Six casualties hospitalized The casualties ranged in age from to and their injuries spanned from serious to minor executives mentioned They were members of the volunteer group called Run For Their Lives who were holding their weekly demonstration Three casualties remained hospitalized Tuesday at the UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital spokesperson Kelli Christensen stated One of the casualties was a child when her family fled the Nazis during the Holocaust commented Ginger Delgado of the Arapahoe County Sheriff s Office who is acting as a spokesperson for the family of the woman who doesn t want her name used Molotov cocktails revealed Onlookers and police have mentioned Soliman threw two incendiary devices catching himself on fire as he hurled the second Soliman took off his shirt and what appeared to be a bulletproof vest before police arrived and arrested him reported witness Alex Osante of San Diego Solimon advised agents he had gas in a backpack sprayer but didn t spray it on anyone but himself because he had planned on dying personnel noted Soliman also notified investigators that he took a concealed-carry class and tried to buy a gun but was denied because he isn t a U S citizen Soliman attempted to purchase a handgun in Colorado Springs about seven months ago but was denied the gun after a background check Rob Low a spokesperson for the Colorado Bureau of Scrutiny announced in a declaration A month later he was denied a concealed carry handgun permit Low stated that CBI cannot specify why someone was denied though Soliman stated investigators that it was because he isn t a U S citizen If Soliman s immigration status caused his rejection CBI would have sent ICE a notification Low stated Officers mentioned they believe Soliman acted alone Although they did not elaborate on the nature of his injuries a booking photo evidenced him with a large bandage over one ear Associated Press reporters Eric Tucker in Washington Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City Missouri Samy Magdy in Cairo and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed to this record Source
