Plainfield man charged with hate crime in stabbing 6-year-old Palestinian boy to death, wounding mother over Mideast conflict, police say

About a decade ago, a young couple from the city of Beitunia in Palestine’s West Bank fled conflict in the Middle East and moved to the United States, where their new start seemed especially promising six years ago when they welcomed a baby boy.

The boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, grew to love “everything” and “everybody,” his father recalled Sunday.

But the violence they escaped found them again over the weekend in unincorporated Will County near Plainfield. The mother and son’s landlord, upset about the ongoing conflict involving Hamas and Israel, targeted the two and brutally stabbed the 6-year-old boy to death and seriously wounded his mother, 32, because they were Muslim, police said Sunday.

Joseph Czuba, 71, of Plainfield, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crimes and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in a “senseless and cowardly act,” the Will County sheriff’s office said in a news release Sunday.

At a news conference held later Sunday by the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, relatives identified Wadea Al-Fayoume and his mother, Hanaan Shahin, as the victims. For the past two years, mother and son had lived without incident on the ground floor of the house Czuba owned, relatives said.

The murder charges drew swift condemnation from religious and political leaders around the nation.

Late Sunday night, President Joe Biden released a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying he and first lady Jill Biden “were sickened to learn of the brutal murder of a child and the attempted murder of the child’s mother yesterday in Illinois.”

“Our condolences and prayers are with the family. This act of hate against a Palestinian Muslim family has no place in America,” Biden said on X. “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.”

The stabbing occurred shortly before noon Saturday at a residence in the 16200 block of South Lincoln Highway in unincorporated Plainfield Township, according to the Will County sheriff’s statement.

Ahmed Rehab, executive director of CAIR-Chicago, said Shahin related details of the attack via text from her hospital bed to her ex-husband, Oday Al-Fayoume, who relayed them to Rehab.

The landlord, according to Rehab, knocked on Shahin’s door Saturday morning as he’d done many times before, so she had no reason to be suspicious. But when she answered, Czuba reportedly began choking and stabbing her.

Shahin also told Al-Fayoume that Czuba yelled, “You Muslims must die” as he attacked her. She was able to escape to the bathroom and call 911 for help. When she came out, just seconds later, she discovered her son had been fatally stabbed.

Law enforcement officers who arrived at the scene Saturday found Czuba sitting outside on the ground near the driveway, with a laceration to his forehead, according to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies then located the two victims in a bedroom inside the residence. Both had multiple stab wounds to their chest, torso and upper body. Police initially reported the boy was 8 years old but were later able to determine he was 6 years old. The boy was transported to Ascension St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Joliet in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead at 12:19 p.m., according to a statement from the Will County coroner’s office.

After a Sunday autopsy, a forensic pathologist determined the boy had been stabbed 26 times, police said, adding that the knife used in the attack was a serrated military-style knife with a 7-inch blade.

On Saturday, the 32-year-old mother was transported in serious condition with over a dozen stab wounds to a local hospital where she was recovering from her injuries and was expected to survive, the sheriff’s office said Sunday.

After being treated and released from a hospital, Czuba was transported to the Will County sheriff’s office Public Safety Complex for questioning. The sheriff’s office said that, even though he did not make any statements regarding the attack, detectives were able to gather enough information through interviews to charge Czuba. He has been was transported to the Will County Adult Detention Facility and was awaiting his initial court appearance, the sheriff’s office said.

At the news conference Sunday, a visibly devastated and shocked Al-Fayoume grieved in silence as a handful of relatives surrounded him and as community members and leaders listened.

According to Rehab, Al-Fayoume said his son “loved everything. He loved everybody. He loved his toys. He loved basketball, soccer. He loved to color. He loved to swing around. He loved his parents. He loved his family and his friends. He loved life.”

The boy’s relatives have circulated a recent photo from his 6th birthday, which was Oct. 6, where he can be seen smiling while wearing a blue birthday hat.

“That’s how we want to remember him. There’s no shame for us. There’s shame for the perpetrator of this act. And there’s shame for those who create these atmospheres,” Rehab said. “But for this family, there’s nothing but pride in their son, pride in their identity, pride in their religion, pride in how they live their lives.”

Yousef Hannon, one of the boy’s uncles, said it had been three days since he had heard from the rest of his family back in Gaza. He pleaded with his community to recognize their humanity.

“We are not animals. We are humans,” Hannon said. “We want people to see us as humans, to feel us as humans, to deal with us as humans because this is what we are. I want my American sisters, my American brothers to understand what we are suffering.”

Rehab said the boy ultimately paid the price for the hatred and dehumanization of Palestinians that has brewed across the United States as some media and elected officials perpetuate one-sided narratives of the conflict between Hamas and Israel.

“I ask you: What level of blind hatred can cause such an act? And for us to reflect under which conditions such an act can occur,” Rehab said. “We need to take collective responsibility for how we, as a civilized democratic nation, can engage in a complex conversation about a complex issue and not erase Palestinian lives, not erase Palestinian victimhood, not erase the suffering of the Palestinian people.”

While violence between the Israeli government and Hamas has escalated in Gaza, rallies and protests have occurred in Chicago and across the world. A debate over a resolution in the Chicago City Council to support Israel erupted into heated exchanges on Friday.

Following news of the stabbings, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is Jewish, released a statement condemning the stabbings and saying that the Illinois State Police had reached out to the Illinois Muslim community and other religious leaders.

“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,” Pritzker said in the statement.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said he’s “heartbroken by the abhorrent killing” and severe wounding of the son and mother, adding that the Justice Department has opened a federal hate crimes investigation into the incident.

“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 Department of Justice is focused on protecting the safety and the civil rights of every person in this country,” Garland said in a Sunday statement. “We will use every legal authority at our disposal to bring to justice those who perpetrate illegal acts of hate. 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.”

Illinois State Police also released a statement Sunday urging the public to remain vigilant against hate crime activity and violence amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. While state police said there’s no “actionable intelligence” regarding mass threats in Illinois, they asked people to report suspicious behavior to their local law enforcement agency or call 911 depending on the level of threat.

“Everyone in Illinois — both law enforcement and community members alike — must remain on guard against both terrorism and hate crimes during this period of volatility,” said ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly. “If you see something, say something, before it’s too late.”

The state police said they are coordinating with local and federal partners in response to the elevated risk, and have reached out to Muslim and Jewish communities in Illinois who are impacted by the threat environment.

At the end of the news conference, Rehab asked Oday Al-Fayoume how he would like his son to be remembered. In Arabic, he said he wants his 6-year-old to be honored by “bringing accountability for his life taken too soon.”

Chicago Tribune’s Caroline Kubzansky and Rebecca Johnson contributed.

adperez@chicagotribune.com