A 6-year-old boy in Chicago, Illinois, was buried on Monday after being fatally stabbed in what authorities are calling an anti-Muslim hate crime, in a tragic episode that has stunned the nation.
The victims, a Palestinian-American family, were allegedly attacked by Joseph Czuba, their 71-year-old landlord, because they were Muslims and there was an ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. On Saturday, the mother was able to call 911 and report that her landlord had stabbed her.
Two counts of hate crimes, attempted first-degree murder, first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and first-degree murder. He was discovered with a wound on his forehead, lying straight on the ground outside, close to the house’s driveway.
Wadea Al-Fayoume, the child victim, had just turned 6. “We are not animals,” Yousef Hannon, his paternal uncle, said. “We want people to see us as humans, to feel us as humans, to deal with us as humans.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat from Illinois, expressed his regret at the tragedy and said, “Wadea should be heading to school in the morning. Instead, his parents will wake up without their son.”
A hate crime inquiry into the circumstances leading up to the incident has been launched by the Justice Department. The attack was denounced by President Joe Biden, who said: “This horrific act of hate has no place in America and stands against our fundamental values: freedom from fear for how we pray, what we believe, and who we are.”