An American man was charged this Sunday with murder and a hate crime after having stabbed a Muslim woman and a 6-year-old boy dozens of timesin an attack that police linked to the war between Israel and Hamas.
The small Wadea al-Fayoume, who was stabbed 26 timesdied at the hospital, but the 32-year-old woman, believed to be her mother, is expected to survive Saturday’s “heinous” attack, according to a statement from the Will County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois.
“Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targets of the suspect given that they were Muslims and because of the ongoing Middle East conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” said the statement, which located the murder about 40 miles away. west of Chicago.
The sheriff’s office did not provide further details or clarify the nationalities of the victims, but the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) described the minor as a Palestinian-American.
Authorities reported that the woman managed to call 911 while confronting the attacker, identified by the sheriff’s office as Joseph Czuba, 71 years old.