CHICAGO (AP) – Police charged a 71-year-old suburban Chicago man with hate crimes Sunday in the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old boy and the fatal wounding of a 32-year-old woman, alleging he chose both victims because of their Islamic faith and in response to the war between Israel and Hamas.
“Detectives were able to determine that the two victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect because they are Muslim and the ongoing Middle East conflict involving Hamas and Israel,” the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement posted to social media.
The stabbing suspect was identified as Joseph M. Czuba, 71.
Officers found the two victims late Saturday morning at a home in unincorporated Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.
The boy, who was pronounced dead at the hospital, was stabbed 26 times with a large military-style knife, according to an autopsy Sunday, the sheriff’s office said. The woman had more than a dozen stab wounds on her body. He was still hospitalized Sunday, but is expected to be safe.
Joseph M. Czuba, 71 was arrested for fatally stabbing a 6-year-old child and stabbing a woman dozens of times. Will County Sheriff’s Office Czuba fatally stabbed Wadea Al-Fayoume and injured her mother Hanaan Shahin.Council on American–Islamic Relations
The man suspected of committing the crime was found Saturday outside “sitting upright outside on the ground near the driveway of a residence” with a wound to his forehead, police said.
He was in custody Sunday and awaiting a court appearance. Police charged him with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
The incident happened in the 16200 block of South Lincoln Highway.ABC 7 Chicago
Authorities did not release the name of the dead, but the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations planned a news conference Sunday with family members and identified the victims as Wadea Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian-American boy who had just turned 6, and his mother Hanaan Shahin.
They had lived on the ground floor of the house for two years, according to the organization, saying the suspect was their host.
Citing a text message from the boy’s mother to his father, the suspect reportedly shouted, “You Muslims must die!” ahead of the stabbing, according to CAIR-Chicago.
Muslim civil liberties organizations called the crime “our worst nightmare,” and part of a disturbing surge in hate calls and emails since the outbreak of violence in the Middle East.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
