Who Is Mohamed Sabry Soliman? Suspect Behind 'Targeted Terror Attack' In Boulder, Colorado

Last Updated:June 02, 2025, 08:38 IST

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who reportedly overstayed a US visa after arriving in 2022, was identified as the suspect in a targeted terror attack in Boulder, Colorado.

Colorado attack suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman (L)/ Police on the site (R) (Photos: Social Media/AFP)

At least six people were injured in what the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) immediately described as a “targeted terror attack" at the Pearl Street outdoor mall in Boulder, Colorado.

The group targeted by the suspect, identified as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, had gathered to raise attention to Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Soliman yelled “Free Palestine" and used a makeshift flamethrower in the attack, said Mark Michalek, the special agent in charge of the Denver field office.

Soliman was later taken into custody.

WHO IS MOHAMED SABRY SOLIMAN?

According to US President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, Soliman had overstayed his visa in the United States and had been allowed to work by the previous administration.

Multiple media reports suggest Soliman is an Egyptian native. However, an official confirmation on the same was awaited.

Reports also suggested Soliman had arrived in the United States on a B-2 visa in August 2022.

More details on his home and family were not immediately available.

Soliman was also injured and was taken to the hospital to be treated, but authorities didn’t elaborate on the nature of his injuries.

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The attack took place at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall, a four-block area in downtown Boulder, where demonstrators with a volunteer group called ‘Run For Their Lives’ had gathered to raise visibility for the hostages who remain in Gaza.

It occurred more than a week after the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington by a Chicago man who yelled, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza" as he was being led away by police.

Tensions in the United States over Israel’s war in Gaza have recently heightened, spurring an increase in antisemitic hate crime as well as moves by conservative supporters of Israel, led by Donald Trump, to brand pro-Palestinian protests as antisemitic.

Trump’s administration has detained protesters of the war without charge and cut off funding to elite US universities that have permitted such demonstrations.

COLORADO INCIDENT A ‘TERROR ATTACK’

Meanwhile, FBI leaders in Washington said they were treating the Boulder attack as an act of terrorism, and the Justice Department — which leads investigations into acts of violence driven by religious, racial or ethnic motivations — decried the attack as a “needless act of violence, which follows recent attacks against Jewish Americans".

“This act of terror is being investigated as an act of ideologically motivated violence based on the early information, the evidence, and witness accounts. We will speak clearly on these incidents when the facts warrant it," FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said in a post on X.

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Vani Mehrotra

Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks.

Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks.

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News world Who Is Mohamed Sabry Soliman? Suspect Behind 'Targeted Terror Attack' In Boulder, Colorado