The man who lit eight people on fire in Colorado with a makeshift flamethrower immigrated from Egypt and originally came to the U.S. on a tourism visa, according to new reports.
Police say that on Sunday afternoon Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, attacked people who were near an event organized by the "Run For Their Lives" group, an organization highlighting people held hostage by Hamas in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, Fox News reported. The group organizes walking and running events advocating for the release of the hostages.
Soliman originally came to the U.S. on a tourism visa in August 2022, which expired in February 2023. Despite the original temporary tourism visa, Soliman filed for asylum in September 2022 with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and was granted a work authorization. However, that authorization expired in March of this year, Fox News reported.
"A terror attack was committed in Boulder, Colorado by an illegal alien," White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller wrote on X. "He was granted a tourist visa by the Biden Administration and then he illegally overstayed that visa. In response, the Biden Administration gave him a work permit. Suicidal migration must be fully reversed."
Witnesses said they heard Soliman shout Soliman "Free Palestine" during the attack, according to ABC News.
FBI officials told ABC News that they believed the incident was a "targeted terror attack," adding that the FBI believes it was "ideologically motivated violence."
ABC News reported that the victims ranged in age from 52 to 88 and that one of those injured was listed in critical condition.
