A landlord in the Chicago-area was arrested and charged with murder and hate crimes after authorities said he stabbed and killed a six-year-old boy and seriously wounded his mother, allegedly because the tenants are Muslim.
Joseph M. Czuba, 71, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of a hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, the Will County, Illinois, Sheriff's Office said.
The sheriff's office said Czuba did not make a statement to detectives but investigators determined the victims were "targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the on-going Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis".
Authorities were called to the residence in unincorporated Plainfield Township, roughly 70km south-west of Chicago, shortly before noon on Saturday after a woman called 911, saying her landlord had attacked her.
When officers arrived, they found Czuba sitting on the ground, near the home's driveway.
The two victims were found in a bedroom, each with "multiple stab wounds," and were taken to the hospital.
The boy was stabbed 26 times and succumbed to his injuries, the sheriff's office said.
The 32-year-old woman, who had more than a dozen stab wounds, is recovering at the hospital and is expected to survive, the office said.
The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) identified the victims in a news release as Hanaan Shahin, and her son, Wadea Al-Fayoume.
The family had lived on the house's ground floor for two years without "previous notable issues" with Czuba, CAIR said.
But in texts to the boy's father from the hospital after the attack, Shahin said the landlord "knocked on their door, and when she opened, he tried to choke her and proceeded to attack her with a knife, yelling, 'you Muslims must die,'" according to the CAIR statement.
On Saturday, Israel's military said its forces are readying for the next stages of the war in response to the unprecedented October 7 attacks by the Islamist militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza. At least 1,400 people were killed during Hamas' rampage, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN on Sunday.
In response, Israel has pounded Gaza with airstrikes that have killed more than 2,600 people, according to the Palestinian health ministry. And conditions there have deteriorated into a "complete catastrophe," aid workers say, as tens of thousands of Palestinians try to flee south.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement, "To take a six-year-old child's life in the name of bigotry is nothing short of evil."
"Every single Illinoisan – including our Muslim, Jewish and Palestinian neighbours – deserves to life free from the threat of such evil," the governor said. "Today, MK and I join our Muslim and Palestinian brothers and sisters in mourning this tragic loss and praying for the recovery of Wadea's mother."
"May Wadea Al-Fayoume's memory be a blessing."
A child who had just celebrated his birthday
Wadea had celebrated his birthday shortly before his death, Ahmed Rehab, CAIR-Chicago's executive director, said in a news conference Sunday.
"He was a six-year-old boy, he loved everything," Rehab said of the child, recalling how Wadea's father had described him.
"He loved everybody, he loved his toys, he loved anything with a ball, basketball, soccer, he loved to colour, he loved to swing around, he loved his parents, he loved his family and his friends, he loved life and he was looking forward to a long, healthy, prosperous life," he added during the news conference.
"He has no clue about these larger issues happening in the world but he was made to pay for it," Rehab added.
Wadea's mother and father had moved to the United States 12 and nine years ago, respectively, and their son was born here, Rehab added. They were from a village in the West Bank, he said.
In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, CAIR National wrote they were "shocked and disturbed" to hear of the boy's death, and said,
"The Islamophobic rhetoric and anti-Palestinian racism being spread by politicians, media outlets, and social media platforms must stop."
Czuba was taken to the Will County Adult Detention Facility and is awaiting his initial court appearance, according to the sheriff's office. It is unclear if he has a lawyer.
