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The man who attacked people in Boulder, Colorado, two weeks ago with Molotov cocktails tried to buy a gun to use in that attack. He was not able to, and Colorado police alerted the Department of Homeland Security when his gun purchase was denied, but federal authorities apparently took no action. Colorado Public Radio's Allison Sherry reports.
ALLISON SHERRY, BYLINE: Mohamed Soliman told police he hated all Zionists and had been planning an attack for a year. He found a Boulder group online, which has conducted weekly marches since October to support Israeli hostages in Gaza. In November, he tried to buy a gun from a Colorado sporting goods store, but as an Egyptian national with no legal status, his purchase was denied. Earlier this month, when he attacked the marchers, he used homemade firebombs he learned to make online. A witness to the attack shared this cellphone video on YouTube.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Stay away. Stay away. He's right there. He's throwing Molotov cocktails, right there.
SHERRY: Fifteen people were injured. Eight had to be hospitalized for burns. Soliman was quickly taken into custody and faces felony charges, including for hate crimes. More than a week after the attack, Colorado Republican Congressman Gabe Evans faulted Colorado authorities for not telling federal law enforcement about the failed gun purchase.
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GABE EVANS: I can't help but wonder if this attack might have been prevented had the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which is who does the background checks for firearm purchases in Colorado - had they been able to flag that for one of the multiple different entities that have been set up to share that information and prevent something like this from happening.
SHERRY: But Evans was wrong. Rob Low is with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
ROB LOW: Colorado's firearm background check system works as designed when it comes to the actions of accused Boulder terrorism suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman.
SHERRY: Low says, when anyone is denied a gun purchase, state and federal police are automatically notified electronically. When the would-be purchaser is an immigrant without legal status, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is also notified.
CHUCK WEXLER: If someone is trying to buy a gun and is turned down, it seems to me that that information should be available.
SHERRY: Chuck Wexler runs the D.C.-based Police Executive Research Forum, a police policy and research organization. He says local and federal police should be paying attention to people who try to buy guns and are denied. But, he says, because multiple people at various levels are notified, it's possible no one is stepping up.
WEXLER: As to whose responsibility that is, whether it's the ATF or whether it's local police, it's a good question.
SHERRY: Colorado's Bureau of Investigation says, firearm purchase denials for immigrants without legal status are a small fraction of overall denials in the state. After he learned that state authorities did notify federal agencies about Soliman's failed purchase months before the attack, Congressman Gabe Evans, who criticized the state, says he wasn't sure that notification was, quote, "significant enough." The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for an interview for the story or provide a statement. For NPR News, I'm Allison Sherry in Denver.
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