UPDATED 2:18 P.M. 10/16
BRIDGEVIEW, Illinois (Reuters) – Mourners gathered in a Chicago suburb on Monday for the funeral of a 6-year-old Muslim boy who was stabbed to death over the weekend by a man who police say targeted him and his mother because they were Palestinian Americans.
Services for the boy, identified as Wadea Al-Fayoume, took place at the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, Illinois, a community southwest of Chicago known as “Little Palestine” for its heavy concentration of Palestinian Americans.
“He’s a very kind kid,” his uncle, who was not identified, said during a press conference on Monday outside the mosque before the service. “He is in a better place.”
In the basement of the mosque, women and children huddled and cried during the press conference. Outside, dozens of people flanked the speakers, including two men who waved Palestinian flags before the group chatted “Free, Free Palestine.”
The killing comes against the backdrop of a fresh crisis in the Middle East after a deadly attack by Hamas militants on Israeli civilians a week ago and subsequent retaliation by Israel in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The conflict has put Jewish and Palestinian Muslim communities in the United States on edge and fearful of a potential backlash against them.
Police said the 6-year-old and his mother – identified as 32-year-old Hanaan Shahin – were attacked by their landlord on Saturday in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Chicago. The boy was stabbed 26 times while his mother suffered multiple wounds. She was expected to survive.
“This is a heavy day. It is a worst nightmare come true. It is something we’ve tried to warn against,” Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said on Monday. “It pains me that the sacrificial lamb to this atmosphere was this beautiful young six-year-old boy.”
Iman Negrete, a Palestinian American who lives in Plainfield, is from the same town in the occupied Palestinian territories as the mother. She wept as she stood next to a makeshift memorial made up of stuffed animals, saying she does not feel safe in the community because of her background.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said, referring to the boy’s death. “He was Muslim, that’s what happened, he was Muslim and this is what they did, this is what this monster did.”
The boy celebrated his sixth birthday two weeks ago, CAIR’s Rehab told a press conference on Sunday.
“He was a lovely boy. Loved his family, friends. He loved soccer, basketball,” he said. “He paid the price for the atmosphere of hate.”
The boy’s mother came from the West Bank to the United States 12 years ago and his father immigrated nine years ago, Rehab said.
SUSPECT CHARGED
The suspect, Joseph Czuba, 71, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said.
Czuba made his initial appearance in a Will County Court on Monday. He was appointed a public defender and ordered detained, according to online court records. Czuba did not enter a plea to the charges.
The public defender who is representing Czuba was not immediately available for comment.
Before the stabbings, there were no known issues or conflicts between Czuba and the family, CAIR said.
The boy’s father, Oday El-Fayoume, told The Daily Beast that Czuba had a “good relationship” with the boy’s mother and son, having built a tree house for the small child outside the home they rented from him.
“He is an angel. Basically a small angel in the form of a person,” El-Fayoume said of his son. “It is hard to picture this man holding a knife about to stab my son.”
The boy’s father received text messages from the child’s mother while she was hospitalized, describing the attack and identifying the assailant, Rehab said.
“He asked his wife … what happened,” Rehab said. “He knocked on the door and attempted to choke her and said, ‘You Muslims must die’ and stabbed her.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland late on Sunday said the U.S. Justice Department would open a federal hate-crime investigation into the attack.
“This incident cannot help but further raise the fears of Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian communities in our country with regard to hate-fueled violence,” the statement said.
Since the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East last week, there have scattered reports of violence directed at Palestinians and Jewish communities in the United States.
In Dearborn, Michigan, which has one of the largest concentrations of Muslim people in the nation, a man was charged over the weekend with making a social media post that threatened violence against Palestinian-American residents, police said.
(Reporting by Bianca Flowers and Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Writing by Brendan O’Brien; Editing by Deepa Babington)
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Updated 9:48 a.m. 10/16
CHICAGO (Reuters) – A funeral service and burial will be held for a six-year-old Muslim boy on Monday in a Chicago suburb after he was stabbed to death over the weekend by a man who targeted him and his mother because they were Palestinian Americans.
Services for the boy, identified as Wadea Al-Fayoume, are scheduled for 1:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) at the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, Illinois, southwest of Chicago, according to a statement from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
“This is a heavy day that we hoped would never come. As they say, the smallest coffins are the heaviest,” said Ahmed Rehab, CAIR-Chicago executive director, said in the statement.
The funeral will be held in a community known as “Little Palestine” for its heavy concentration of Palestinian Americans.
The killing comes amid a fresh Middle East crisis, following a brutal attack by Hamas militants on Israeli civilians a week ago and subsequent retaliation by Israel in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The conflict has put Jewish and Palestinian Muslim communities in the United States on edge and fearful of a potential backlash against them.
The six-year-old and his mother – identified as 32-year-old Hanaan Shahin – were attacked by their landlord on Saturday in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Chicago. The boy was stabbed 26 times while his mother suffered multiple wounds. She was expected to survive.
The suspect, Joseph Czuba, 71, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, 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,” the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Attorney General Merrick Garland late on Sunday said the U.S. Justice Department would open a federal hate-crime investigation into the attack.
“This incident cannot help but further raise the fears of Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian communities in our country with regard to hate-fueled violence,” the statement read. “No one in the United States of America should have to live in fear of violence because of how they worship or where they or their family come from.”
Before the stabbings, there were no notable issues or known conflicts between Czuba and the family, CAIR said. According to the organization, Czuba yelled, “You Muslims must die,” during the attack.
Reuters could not identify an attorney for Czuba. He was in the Will County jail awaiting his initial court appearance, the sheriff’s office said.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
Updated 6:43 a.m. 10/16
(Reuters) -An Illinois man was charged with hate crimes for stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy to death and wounding his mother in an attack that targeted them for their religion and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas, officials and Muslim rights activists said on Sunday.
The boy was stabbed 26 times with a military-style knife with a 7-inch serrated blade, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. The 32-year-old woman had multiple stab wounds and is expected to survive the attack that occurred on Saturday in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago.
U.S. President Joe Biden said the boy’s family were Palestinian Muslims who “came to America seeking what we all seek – a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace.”
“This horrific act of hate has no place in America,” Biden said in a statement.
The suspect, Joseph Czuba, 71, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, the 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 on-going Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Reuters could not identify an attorney for Czuba. He was in jail awaiting his initial court appearance, the office said.
Although Czuba did not make any statements to detectives, as is his constitutional right, police said they determined the charges through interviews and evidence.
When police arrived at the scene, they said they found Czuba sitting on the ground outside the home with a cut to his forehead. The victims were in a bedroom.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) identified the boy as Wadea Al-Fayoume and said the woman, Hanaan Shahin, was his mother.
“The Islamophobic rhetoric and anti-Palestinian racism being spread by politicians, media outlets, and social media platforms must stop,” CAIR said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference to stay vigilant “in this heightened environment.”
“There’s no question we’re seeing an increase in reported threats, and we’ve got to be on the lookout, especially for lone actors who may take inspiration from recent events to commit violence of their own,” Wray told the conference in San Diego on Saturday, according to the FBI website.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
(Reuters) – An Illinois man was charged with hate crimes for stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy to death and wounding his mother in an attack that targeted them for their religion and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas, officials and Muslim rights activists said on Sunday.
The boy was stabbed 26 times with a military-style knife with a 7-inch (18-cm) serrated blade, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. The 32-year-old woman had multiple stab wounds and is expected to survive the attack that occurred on Saturday in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Chicago.
“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 Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Joseph M. Czuba poses for a police booking photograph after being arrested by the Will County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois, U.S., in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on October 15, 2023. Will County Sheriff/Handout via REUTERS
The suspect, Joseph Czuba, 71, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s office said.
Reuters could not identify an attorney for Czuba. He was in jail awaiting his initial court appearance, the statement said.
Although Czuba did not make any statements to detectives, as is his constitutional right, police said they determined the charges though through interviews and evidence.
When police arrived at the scene, they said they found Czuba sitting on the ground outside the home with a cut to his forehead. The victims were in a bedroom.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) identified the boy as Wadea Al-Fayoume and said the woman, Hanaan Shahin, was his mother.
“The Islamophobic rhetoric and anti-Palestinian racism being spread by politicians, media outlets, and social media platforms must stop,” CAIR said on the social media platform X.
FBI Director Christopher Wray on Saturday warned the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference to stay vigilant “in this heightened environment.”
“There’s no question we’re seeing an increase in reported threats, and we’ve got to be on the lookout, especially for lone actors who may take inspiration from recent events to commit violence of their own,” Wray told the conference in San Diego, according to the FBI website.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
“To take a six-year-old child’s life in the name of bigotry is nothing short of evil. 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. 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.” — Gov. JB Pritzker statement
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