Family of Colorado firebombing suspect taken into federal immigration custody

The family of the Colorado firebombing suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, has been taken into custody by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), says US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

Soliman, an Egyptian national, came to the US on a tourist visa in 2022. He stayed after the visa expired and was in the US illegally, the department has said.

“Today the Department of Homeland Security and ICE are taking the family of suspected Boulder, Colorado, terrorist and illegal alien Mohamed Soliman into ICE custody,” Noem says on X.

“Mohamed’s despicable actions will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but we’re also investigating to what extent his family knew about his horrific attack, if they had any knowledge of it or if they provided any support,” she says.

Soliman lived in Colorado Springs with his wife and five children.

He told investigators he planned the attack for a year and waited until his daughter graduated from high school, then carried out the firebombing three days later. He told police his family did not know of his plans.

He said he left an iPhone with messages to his family hidden in a desk drawer at his home. His wife has turned over an iPhone to investigators.

Authorities have said the family is cooperating with the investigation.