A six-year-old boy and his mother were repeatedly stabbed by their landlord Saturday in an alleged anti-Muslim hate crime.
Wadea Al-Fayoume, who had recently turned six, died from his injuries, while his mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32, is expected to survive the brutal attack.
The mother and son were attacked in their home in Plainfield, Illinois by Joseph Czuba, 71. The two had been Czuba’s tenants for the past two years without any issue until Saturday morning when the 71-year-old targeted the young boy and his mother.
“Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the on-going Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the sheriff’s statement said.
When officials arrived at the scene they found both victims in a bedroom. Both had multiple stab wounds to their chest, torso, and upper extremities. An autopsy on Wadea showed he was stabbed 26 times, while an examination of his mother found more than a dozen stab wounds.
Czuba, who was sitting outside the residence and had a laceration on his forehead when police arrived, had used a 12-inch military style knife with a seven-inch blade.
Although Czuba did not make a statement, authorities were able to gather enough information to charge him with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, hate crimes, and aggravated battery.
The Department of Justice also opened a federal hate crimes investigation.
“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,” the Will County Sheriff’s office said.
Yousef Hannon, the boy’s uncle, spoke at a news conference Sunday, condemned the attack and called for “people to see us as humans.”
“We are not animals, we are humans. We want people to see us as humans, to feel us as humans, to deal with us as humans, because this is what we are.”
“To take a six-year-old child’s life in the name of bigotry is nothing short of evil,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. said.
“Wadea should be heading to school in the morning. Instead, his parents will wake up without their son. This wasn’t just a murder — it was a hate crime. And every single Illinoisan — including our Muslim, Jewish, and Palestinian neighbors — deserves to live free from the threat of such evil.”
It is beyond devastating what is currently happening in the Middle East. And for that hate to extend to other parts of the world… what happened to loving your neighbors?
