Joseph M. Czuba accused of stabbing Muslim boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, 6, more than 20 times to death and seriously injuring his mom in attack motivated by Hamas-Israel war
Joseph M. Czuba is accused of stabbing Muslim boy Wadea Al-Fayoume, 6, to death more than 20 times and seriously injuring his mother in an attack motivated by the Hamas-Israel war
Police charged a 71-year-old suburban Chicago man with a hate crime Sunday for fatally stabbing a 6-year-old boy and seriously wounding his 32-year-old mother, in a crime where local authorities believe the killer influenced by the Israel-Hamas war.
“Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect because they were Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. media.
Officers found both victims late Saturday morning at a home in an unincorporated area of Plainfield Township, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago.
The boy, who was pronounced dead at the hospital, was stabbed 26 times with a large military-style knife, according to an autopsy Sunday, the sheriff’s office said. The woman had more than a dozen stab wounds to her body. She was in hospital on Sunday but was expected to survive.
Police charged 71-year-old Chicago man Joseph M. Czuba (pictured left) with a hate crime Sunday for fatally stabbing 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume (pictured right) and critically wounding his 32-year-old mother , in a crime where local authorities believe the killer was influenced by the Israel-Hamas war
The man suspected of the crime was found outside on Saturday ‘sitting upright outside on the ground near the driveway of the residence’ with a cut on his forehead, police said.
He was in custody on Sunday awaiting a court appearance. Police charged him with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Authorities have not released the names of the dead, but the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations scheduled a Sunday news conference with a family member and identified the victims as Wadea Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian American boy who recently turned 6, and his mother Hanaan Shahin.
According to the organization, they lived on the ground floor of the house for two years and said the suspect was their landlord. Referring to text messages from the mother to the boy’s father, the suspect reportedly shouted: ‘You Muslims must die!’ before the stabbing, according to CAIR-Chicago.
The Muslim Civil Liberties Organization called the crime “our worst nightmare” and part of a disturbing rise in hate calls and emails since the outbreak of violence in the Middle East.