Oct. 16 (UPI) — Federal authorities announced Monday they have joined an investigation of a 71-year-old Chicago-area landlord charged in the slaying a 6-year-old boy and the wounding of his mother over their Muslim faith.
The FBI’s Chicago field office, civil rights investigators for the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois said they will assist the local sheriff’s office in its probe of a suspect charged with slaying 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and wounding his mother, Hanaan Shahin, at their Plainfield, Ill., home over the weekend.
The suspect, identified as Joseph Czuba, was arrested by police Saturday in Plainfield, located about 40 miles southwest of Chicago in Will County, Ill.
The federal authorities said they will “work closely” with the Will County Sheriff’s Office and Will County State’s Attorney’s Office in prosecuting the case.
“The FBI takes the investigation of hate crimes extremely seriously and encourages members of the community with information regarding this incident — or other potential hate crimes — to contact us at 1-800-CALL-FBI,” the agency said.
Will County authorities said they found Czuba sitting on the ground near the driveway of a residence officers were sent to shortly after 11:30 a.m. over a stabbing between the landlord and his renters.
Inside a bedroom in the residence, officers found the boy and his mother suffering from multiple stab wounds and were transported to a local hospital.
Authorities said the boy was transported in critical condition and succumbed to his injuries at the hospital, while the woman was transported in serious condition and is expected to survive.
An autopsy was performed on the boy Sunday, which discovered that he had been stabbed 26 times with a 12-inch serrated military-style knife that was removed from his abdomen by the performing doctor, authorities said, adding that the woman was stabbed more than a dozen times.
Czuba was found with a laceration to his forehand and was transported to the hospital for treatment. After being released, he was taken to the Will County Sheriff’s Office Public Safety Complex for questioning, during which authorities said he did not make any statements.
Despite staying mute, sheriff’s officials said in a statement Sunday that it has gathered enough evidence to charge him “in this senseless and cowardly act of violence.”
He has been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, two counts of committing a hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
“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 office said.
The brutal attacked occurred as Israel wages war against Hamas over the militant group’s surprise Oct. 7 attack that killed more than 1,300 Israelis. More than 120 others were also taken hostage.
Israel has responded with incessant bombing of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, killing more than 2,670 Palestinians and wounding 9,600 others.
President Joe Biden on Sunday issued a statement stating he and first lady Jill Biden were “shocked and sickened” to learn of the attack.
“The child’s Palestinian Muslim family 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, and stands against our fundamental values: freedom from fear for how we pray, what we believe and who we are,” the president said.
“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.”
The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group in the country, said the mother and child rented a floor in Czuba’s house.
CAIR said that according to text messages that Shahin sent to the boy’s father — her ex-husband — from the hospital, Czuba allegedly had become angry with what he had seen on the news about the situation in Israel and knocked on their door.
When she opened the door to him, Czuba allegedly tried to choke her and proceeded to attack her with the knife. CAIR said she ran to the bathroom to call 911, and when she re-emerged, she found her son stabbed to death.
“This all happened in seconds,” Ahmed Rehab, CAIR-Chicago’s executive director, said in a Sunday press conference.
Al-Fayoume had just celebrated his birthday weeks before and was a boy who “loved everything,” Rehab said.
“And he paid the price for the atmosphere of hate and otherization and dehumanization that, frankly, I think we’re seeing here in the United States as a result of the irresponsible leadership and lopsided, one-sided statements and comments that were seeing in the media, elected officials — all across you see it in the comment sections in social media,” he added.
He said Shahin and the boy’s father were originally from a West Bank village.
CAIR has been calling on officials to consider how they discuss the conflict out of worry of fueling an atmosphere of hate and dehumanization, not seen since the aftermath of 9/11.
