Man accused of murder, hate crime in attack on Muslim mother, son pleads not guilty
A 71-year-old man accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in an attack on a Muslim mother and her son pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday.
Joseph Czuba was charged for the killing of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and for wounding the boy’s mother, Hanaan Shahin, on Oct. 14 in Plainfield, Ill., in what officials said was an attack motivated by the escalating violence in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The Associated Press reported that an attorney for Czuba entered the not guilty plea Monday, noting Czuba did not speak during his court appearance. His attorney declined to comment to reporters after the meeting, the AP noted.
The boy was fatally stabbed 26 times by Czuba while the mother was stabbed a dozen times, authorities said. She was released from the hospital earlier this month and urged the public to “pray for peace” in the wake of the attack.
Czuba was Shahin’s landlord. She reportedly told police he was upset over the Israel-Hamas war and attacked her and her son after she told him to “pray for peace.”
The sheriff’s office said at the time that investigators determined the child and his mother were “targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland opened a hate crime investigation into the attack earlier this month, saying he was “heartbroken by the abhorrent killing” of the 6-year-old boy. President Biden also condemned the act of violence, writing in a statement that he and the first lady were “shocked and sickened” by news of the attack.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations announced last week that there has been a dramatic spike in the number of Islamophobic incidents since Hamas launched its deadly surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
The advocacy group estimated this was the largest number of complaints received in a similar period since former President Trump, a presidential candidate at the time, announced his intentions for a Muslim ban in the United States in 2015.