Habiba Soliman wanted to be a doctor. Then, her father firebombed Jewish marchers in Boulder

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This article has been updated to provide more context surrounding the case, including additional details on the situation that led to the suspect’s family being taken into custody.

She moved to the United States with a dream of studying medicine. She had stepped off her high school graduation stage in May.

Then her father, Mohamed Soliman, drove from Colorado Springs to Boulder on June 1, picked up 87-octane gas and flowers and made firebombs that he threw at a group of Jewish marchers on Pearl Street, investigators said.

The attack left a dozen people with serious burns, local law enforcement said, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor. 

Soliman told investigators he planned the attack for a year – but had waited for his daughter, Habiba Soliman, to graduate high school.

Habiba Soliman, her four siblings and their mother are now his latest victims. The family was arrested by immigration officials on June 3 and could soon be deported.

The crimes of the father have placed a target on the backs of his family at a time when the Trump administration is ramping up deportations of immigrants — regardless of legal status. The administration is enforcing a catch-and-revoke immigration policy, removing any immigrant, including visa holders, charged with criminal activity. 

Mohamed Soliman, an Egyptian immigrant who overstayed his visa, had moved to the U.S. from Kuwait. The immigration status of Habiba Soliman and her siblings is unclear. But the family is in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

"This terrorist will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,'' Noem said on the X platform. "We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it.''

The White House has taken to X to highlight the potential repercussions Mohamed Soliman’s wife and five children potentially face for his actions. 

“Six One-Way Tickets for Mohamed’s Wife and Five Kids. Final Boarding Call Coming Soon,” the White House said.

FBI and police officials have said the family has cooperated with investigators.

After his arrest, Mohamed Soliman said “he hated the Zionist group and did this because he hated this group and needed to stop them from taking over 'our land,' which he explained to be Palestine," FBI agent Jessica Krueger said in an affidavit.

Soliman hinted he was on a suicide mission. He told law enforcement he left an iPhone at his house, hidden in a desk drawer, with messages to his family. He also left behind a journal, records said.

His wife later handed over to police an iPhone 14 used by Soliman and other members of the family.

Family, a scholarship and a dream

Before the attack, Habiba Soliman had written about her hope of accomplishing great things.

“Coming to the USA has fundamentally changed me,” she wrote in an application for a Colorado Springs Gazette “Best and Brightest” senior class scholarship. “I learned to adapt to new things even if it was hard. I learned to work under pressure and improve rapidly in a very short amount of time. Most importantly, I came to appreciate that family is the unchanging support.”

She decided to study medicine after watching her father learn how to walk after a difficult surgery. It was like “magic,” she told the Gazette in a profile celebrating her winning one of its scholarships.

Habiba Soliman was among 20 winners of the Best and Brightest scholarship, according to Christopher P. Reen, chair of the board of Gazette Charities.

“Recipients were selected through a highly competitive process that evaluated academic excellence, leadership, character, and a strong commitment to community service - her application and credentials met the program requirements,” Reen said to Paste BN. 

“However, outside of the program and the criteria, we cannot speak on behalf of specific scholars.”

The scholarship affords winners a chance to have their academic excellence and future aspirations recognized in the local paper. Soliman was part of the 34th class of winners, according to the Gazette.

Applicants need to have a minimum 2.5 GPA, display a commitment to community and have a vision for their future, according to the 2025 application.

She was the only winner from her high school, the Thomas MacLaren School, an award-winning charter school founded in 2009. Nearly 950 students attend the Kindergarten through 12th grade school, according to the website.

Moving to the U.S. from Kuwait provided her new opportunities to pursue her dream. Her favorite activity was volunteering at a local hospital which would help in a “future medical career,” she wrote in her scholarship application.

Representatives at the hospital, UCHealth, did not immediately respond to requests for information on how long she volunteered or what her tasks were.

Overcoming challenges

Among essay questions Best and Brightest applicants answer is a “defining moment” prompt: “What obstacle(s) have you faced and what did you learn from that experience?”

Habiba Soliman wrote about how difficult it was to move to the U.S. from Kuwait. 

According to the Gazette, Habiba Solimana joined MacLaren as a sophomore, a year which she described as a disaster where she had no friends as she struggled to learn English.

Later she went on to start an Arabic club at the school and also made an effort to welcome new students, according to the Gazette. 

Madalyn Rilling, a MacLaren teacher who wrote a letter of recommendation for her, said the immigrant student had quickly grown into a class leader through her thoughtful questions.

“(Habiba’s) English skills have improved to a fluent level and she has become an even more advanced student,” Rilling wrote.

Rilling and other MacLaren representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Contributing: Trevor Hughes, Christopher Cann, Phaedra Trethan, John Bacon and Jorge L. Ortiz.