Joseph Czuba, 71, entered the family home of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume, stabbing both him and his mother.
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A 71-year-old landlord in Plainfield, Illinois has been charged with murder and a hate crime for stabbing a 6-year-old Palestinian boy to death, and seriously wounding his mother.

Detectives concluded that the victims were targeted by Czuba due to them being Muslim and Palestinian in the midst of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, following the Hamas attack.
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According to text messages the mother sent to Wadea’s father, Czuba knocked on the door of the family’s home before his mother (age 32) answered to see who was there. Czuba then attempted to choke her, before stabbing her and allegedly yelling “You Muslims must die!”

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Wadea’s mother then recounted running into the bathroom and calling 911. However, when the 32-year-old mother emerged, age found that Czuba had already stabbed her young son. The detailed text messages sent to Wadea’s father were shared with CAIR International, the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the US, where regarding the stabbing of her son, the mother claimed it “all happened in seconds.”
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When the police arrived at the scene, they found Czuba sitting upright near the driveway of the crime scene, and the two victims were inside the residence. Police discovered that each of the victims had ‘more than a dozen’ stab wounds inflicted upon them, with stab wounds to the chest, torso and arms.

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The suspect was identified as 71-year-old Czuba, who was the landlord of the victims. Although Czuba has made no statements, authorities were able to gather enough evidence and information from witnesses to formally charge him for the crimes committed.

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