Who is Mohamed Sabry Soliman? Man behind Colorado anti-Israel attack

Colorado Springs, Colo.: Mohamed Sabry Soliman told the police that he had tried to disguise himself as a gardener on Sunday afternoon when he headed toward a group that was walking in downtown Boulder, Colorado, to remember the hostages being held in the Gaza Strip, authorities said.

Soliman, a 45-year-old born in Egypt, carried flowers he had bought from a Home Depot store, according to a Boulder police detective. He wore an orange vest. And he had strapped on a backpack sprayer, the kind that gardeners often use to apply fertilizer or pesticide.

But the sprayer was full of gasoline.

The fiery weekend terror attack that authorities say Soliman soon carried out -- in a plot he said he had hatched himself -- injured 12 people, who were burned by two homemade Molotov cocktails that authorities say he threw into the crowd. Soliman yelled "Free Palestine" during the attacks, authorities said, and later told the police he "wanted them all to die" because he believed the demonstrators were "Zionists" supporting the occupation of Palestine.

Before Sunday, Soliman appeared to have lived a prosaic life in Colorado Springs, where he drove for a ride-share service and was raising five children with his wife in a worn stucco apartment amid the dry, windy suburban stretch east of town. He told police he had assembled his dangerous arsenal of explosives from everyday household goods.

But the assault resonated far beyond Boulder. It came roughly two weeks after another supporter of the Palestinian cause killed two Israeli Embassy workers in Washington, D C, sending fresh waves of fear through Jewish communities around the world whose members were left wondering if anywhere was safe for them as Israel's war against Hamas ground on.

Soliman was arrested minutes after the attack and was being held on a $10 million bond. Police officers found him on a patch of grass near the Boulder courthouse, shirtless and screaming at the crowd, holding two Molotov cocktails. At least 14 other Molotov cocktails were found near him in a black plastic container.

On Monday, he appeared briefly in court and listened as prosecutors said they would be presenting formal charges -- for attempted murder, assault and possession of incendiary devices -- at a later hearing Thursday afternoon.

Separately, federal officials, in an affidavit filed Sunday, said they sought to charge him with a hate crime.

Soliman had no known criminal history, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant filed by a Boulder police detective. In an interview with police after his arrest, he said that he was born in Egypt, had lived in Kuwait for 17 years and moved to Colorado Springs three years ago.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Soliman had come to the United States in August 2022 on a tourist visa and overstayed it. He had also applied for asylum and received a work permit that later expired.

President Donald Trump had stern words Monday for Soliman, not just because of his actions but because of his immigration status.

"This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland," Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform.

Soliman told the police he had sought vengeance for what he called "his people." But it was not clear, from court documents, whether Soliman and his family were among the Palestinian people who have been displaced by decades of war and strife in the Palestinian region.

People in Colorado Springs who knew his family members spoke highly of them. Rachel Delzell said she regularly attended the city's sole mosque with Soliman's wife, their oldest daughter and other women in his family. Because men and women are separated at the mosque, Delzell said, she had not met Soliman. But she said she was stunned that Soliman was suspected of violence, given the kindness of his other family members.

"I can't believe he was a part of that," she said. "You don't raise a daughter like that and have a wife like that, and do something like that."

Though the Muslim population is growing fast enough that the local mosque, the Islamic Society of Colorado Springs, is raising money to build a bigger facility, Delzell said that Muslims faced some difficulties in fitting in.

She said her 12-year-old daughter attends a public charter school in Colorado Springs that Soliman's daughter graduated from in May. Delzell said her daughter looked up to Soliman's daughter, who wore a hijab to school and kindly answered questions about what it was like to wear a head covering. It was welcome support.

"There's not a lot of diversity, and a lot of kids made comments that Islam is a cult or Islam is this or that," Delzell said. "It's really hard."

Soliman's daughter was profiled in The Colorado Springs Gazette as part of a series on high-achieving students who were eligible for college scholarships. In the story, the daughter said she dreamed of going to medical school. She said she had been inspired, in part, by a "difficult surgery" her father had undergone "that restored his ability to walk."

According to the police affidavit, Soliman told officers he had been planning the attack in Boulder for "the last year" and had been waiting for his daughter to graduate from high school. Her graduation ceremony was on May 29.

Three days later, he drove to Boulder in his Toyota Prius, authorities said, and targeted a group called Run for Their Lives, which organizes walks around the world as a way to bring attention to the hostages who continue to be held by Hamas in Gaza. Soliman told police he had learned about the group after searching online.

He told police he had taken a class to obtain a permit to carry a concealed firearm but said he had been unable to buy one, the police affidavit stated, as he was not "a legal citizen."

The distance between Colorado Springs and Boulder is roughly 100 miles. Soliman told police he had stopped on the way in the city of Castle Rock, where he bought the goods he needed to carry out his attack.

Just before 1:30 p.m., Boulder police officers rushed to the area around the courthouse after receiving a report of a man "with a 'blow torch' setting people on fire," the affidavit states.

It was there that they found Soliman. His arrest was captured on a widely shared video. It showed a bizarre and frightening moment: A man, shirtless and in jeans, with close-cropped silver hair and eyes shielded by dark sunglasses, is screaming, and in each hand he holds what appears to be a wine carafe filled with liquid, each vessel adorned with a dangling red cloth.

A police officer approaches. The man lies face down in the grass. The officer cuffs his arms behind his back.

Soliman told the police that he had left an iPhone at his place, hidden in a desk drawer, with messages to his family, as well as a journal. Later, police officers went to his apartment and saw his wife leaving. She went to the local police station, they said, and brought an iPhone with her.

For the city of Boulder, the attack brought up traumatic memories of the 2021 mass shooting at a supermarket in which 10 people were killed by a gunman whose lawyers argued he was mentally ill.

"We saw burn marks on the ground, we saw Israeli flags on the ground, and we saw people wheeled off to ambulances on stretchers," said Henry Bonn-Elchoness, 18, who was heading to a nearby restaurant when he witnessed the aftermath.

"It was sad and really scary," he added. "We are all from Boulder and grew up here. The community of Boulder has been hit with a lot of sad and really scary events recently."

The city, home to the University of Colorado, is surrounded by stunning natural beauty and is known as a sort of heaven for cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts. But its mellow reputation only seemed to underscore that no city is immune from the violent currents pulsing throughout the world.

On Monday in Colorado Springs, no one appeared to be home at Soliman's apartment. A Jewish neighbor who moved in across the street two weeks ago said that the woman who lived with Soliman was very friendly and had brought her cupcakes to welcome her.

The neighbor, who did not want to be identified because she was concerned for her safety, said she had never seen or met the husband. But she said she was unnerved by the news of the attack, considering that she had hung a Star of David on her front door.