Landlord kills Muslim boy, stabs boy’s mother in hate crime motivated by Israel-Hamas war: police

An Illinois landlord was arrested and charged with murder and hate crimes after authorities said the individual stabbed and killed a 6-year-old boy and seriously wounded his mother, who are Muslim, in an apparent hate crime stemming from the Israel-Hamas conflict. 

In the news release Sunday, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said that Joseph M. Czuba, a native of Plainfield, Ill., was charged with first-degree murder. He was also charged with attempted first-degree murder; two counts of a hate crime; and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. 

The sheriff’s office said investigators were able to determine that the child and his mother were “targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the on-going Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis.” 

According to the sheriff’s office, authorities responded to a call about a stabbing incident that occurred involving a landlord and renter shortly before noon Saturday. 

Once they arrived at the residence, authorities found the two victims inside the bedroom, both suffering from multiple stab wounds to their chest, torso, and upper extremities. Police found Czuba sitting on the ground near the driveway of the residence, suffering a laceration to his forehead.

Both victims were then transported to a local medical facility where the boy, who was stabbed 26 times throughout his body, succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead by a medical professional. 

The child’s mother, 32, who suffered more than a dozen stab wounds, is recovering at the hospital and is expected to survive, the sheriff’s office said. 

“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,” the office said in its news release. 

In a news release, the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, identified the victims as Hanaan Shahin and her son, Wadea Al-Fayoume, saying both victims “lived on the ground floor of the house for two years with no previous notable issues with the landlord.” 

CAIR-Chicago also shared text messages Shahin sent to her son’s father from the hospital, in which Shahin says 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.” 

“When she ran into the bathroom to call 911, she came out to find that he had stabbed her six-year-old son to death,” CAIR-Chicago said in its news release. “It all happened in seconds,” she texted.’” 

The tragedy comes a week after Hamas, a militant group that governs Gaza, launched its deadly attack against Israel. The week-old war has claimed more than 3,600 lives across Israel and Gaza.

Israeli armed forces have launched a counteroffensive against the militant group, with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying his country’s forces will exact a “huge price” against Hamas for the attack. 

The U.S., along with its Western allies, have showed their support for Israel. 

Czuba, 71, was transported to the Will County Adult Detention Facility and is awaiting his initial court appearance, according to the sheriff’s office.

On Sunday night, President Biden released a statement saying he and the first lady were “shocked and sickened” by news of the attack on the Muslim boy and his mother.

“The child’s Palestinian Muslim family came to America seeking what we all seek—a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace,” Biden said.
 
“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,” he continued.
 
“As Americans, we must come together and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred.  I have said repeatedly that I will not be silent in the face of hate.  We must be unequivocal. There is no place in America for hate against anyone.
 
“We join everyone here at the White House in sending our condolences and prayers to the family, including for the mother’s recovery, and to the broader Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim American communities,” the statement reads.

Updated at 11:04 p.m. ET