- A man has been charged with murder and hate crimes after allegedly stabbing two people because they were Muslim.
- Joseph Czuba, 71, is accused of killing a six-year-old boy and injuring a woman, 32, in Plainfield, Illinois.
- They were targeted because of the current conflict between Hamas and Israel, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said.
- President Biden said he was “sickened” by the attack on the mother and her son, who were Palestinian-Americans.
- According to law enforcement agencies, the suspect targeted victims based on their Islamic faith, in what appears to be a response to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
US President Joe Biden on Sunday condemned the deadly stabbing attack against a six-year-old Muslim boy, which police have linked to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, as a “horrific act of hate.” “As Americans, we must come together and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred.”
“This horrific act of hate has no place in America, and stands against our fundamental values: freedom from fear for how we pray, what we believe, and who we are,” Biden said in a statement, adding he was praying for the recovery of the boy’s mother, who was also severely wounded in the attack.
A 71-year-old man from Illinois has been accused of committing a hate crime. He is alleged to have fatally stabbed a 6-year-old boy and seriously wounded a 32-year-old woman. Mr Czuba was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, hate crimes, and aggravated battery.
In Sunday’s statement, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said that on Saturday morning it received an emergency call from the woman who said she was being attacked by her landlord in Plainfield, near Chicago. The woman said she “ran into the bathroom and continued to fight off her attacker”.
When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered the woman and the boy with “multiple stab wounds to their chest, torso, and upper extremities”. Both victims were taken to hospital, but the boy later died. It was later established that the child was stabbed 26 times.
The woman, who was seriously injured, is expected to survive the attack. Mr Czuba was found “sitting upright outside on the ground near the driveway of the residence,” the statement said. He was taken to hospital for treatment before being questioned by detectives.
It has not publicly released the names of the victims.
But at a news briefing later on Sunday, from the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago), America’s rights group, named the boy Wadea al-Fayoume, and his mother Hanaan Shahin. It said Wadea was born in the US, while his mother, originally from Beitunia in the West Bank – came to the country 12 years ago.
(With inputs from agencies)
