A 71-year-old man in Plainfield, Illinois, Joseph Czuba, has been charged with murder and a hate crime after stabbing a child and his mother because they were Muslims.
The attack killed the six-year-old boy and left the woman seriously wounded. It was gathered that Czuba, 71, stabbed the victims over a dozen times during the incident reportedly fueled by the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
In a statement posted to the Will County Sheriff’s Office social media page, law enforcement responded to an emergency call made by a 32-year-old woman who alleged her landlord had attacked her with a knife.
The Will County Sheriff’s office said; “Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis.”
According to text messages sent by the mother to the father of the boy, which were shared with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) International, the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the US, when the woman opened the door, the landlord attempted to choke her, then stabbed her, yelling: “You Muslims must die!”
The mother ran to the bathroom to call 911 and emerged to find that the man had stabbed her son. “It all happened in seconds,” the woman texted, according to CAIR.
Officers found the 71-year-old suspect sitting upright on the ground near the home’s driveway. Inside were the two stabbing victims, a 32-year-old woman and a 6-year-old boy who each suffered over a dozen stab wounds to their chest, torso, and arms. The suspect was identified as 71-year-old Joseph M Czuba and police said he was the property’s landlord.
“Joseph Czuba did not make any statements to detectives regarding his involvement in this heinous attack. Despite the suspect not providing a statement to detectives, personnel were able to gather enough information through interviews and evidence to formally charge Joseph Czuba with numerous criminal offenses,” said the Will County Sheriff’s office in a statement.
Czuba was charged with murder, two counts of hate crimes, and other offenses. The child was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, while the woman is currently hospitalized in serious condition.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement on social media; “We are shocked and disturbed to learn that a landlord in Chicago expressing anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian views broke into a Muslim family’s apartment and attacked them with a knife, injuring the mother and killing her 6-year-old son, Wadea Al-Fayoume.”
The group held a news conference on Sunday, describing Wadea as a boy who loved his family, soccer, and basketball. Wadea had just turned six years old a few weeks before, said Ahmed Rehab, CAIR Executive Director, adding; “He paid the price for the atmosphere of hate that we are seeing here in the United States.”
According to Rehab, Czuba was incensed by the news coming out of Israel and previously had had a good relationship with the family, even building a treehouse for Wadea, bringing him toys, and allowing him to swim in a makeshift pool. “The family had no reason to suspect what was to occur,” Rehab said.
Illinois Congressman, Abdelnasser Rashid, who attended the CAIR news conference, said: “We need to understand that the killing of this six-year-old boy was directly connected to what’s happening in Israel and Palestine.
“If we want to see these attacks stop and see any semblance of justice we have to call out not just this heinous crime, but call for a ceasefire and de-escalation and forge a path forward for peace in Israel and Palestine based on humanity and based on human rights.” – With The Guardian reports
