On Saturday, October 14, in Plainfield Township, Illinois, a landlord identified as 71-year-old Joseph M. Czuba allegedly carried out a violent attack on his tenants—a mother and her six-year-old son, due to their Muslim faith and sparked by the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Hanaan Shahin, the mother, called 911 reporting that Czuba attacked her with a knife. She managed to run into the bathroom to call for help. However, upon her return, she discovered that her son, Wadea Al-Fayoume, had been stabbed to death, receiving a total of 26 stab wounds. Earlier text messages sent by Shahin to the boy’s father, shared with CAIR-Chicago, revealed that Czuba knocked on their door and tried to choke her. During the attack, he reportedly shouted, “you Muslims must die!”
Authorities arrived to find Czuba sitting upright near the driveway with a forehead laceration. The weapon, identified as a twelve-inch serrated military style knife with a seven-inch blade, was found in the boy during the autopsy.
The mother, despite sustaining over a dozen stab wounds, is expected to survive. The two had been living in the ground floor of Czuba’s home for two years without prior incidents.
Czuba faces several charges, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and two counts of hate crime. The detectives’ investigation confirmed that the victims were targeted due to their Muslim faith and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict.
