Wadea Al-Fayoume, a six-year-old Muslim boy was “brutally stabbed to death” and his mother Hanaan Shahin was seriously injured late Saturday morning. The suspect in the attack, which police attributed to the Israel-Hamas conflict, is the family’s landlord, 71-year-old Joseph Czuba. Will County police arrived on the scene off S. Lincoln Highway in Plainfield, NY at 11:38 a.m. and found the two victims in a bedroom inside the residence. .“Both victims had multiple stab wounds to their chest, torso and upper extremities,” reads a press release as per BNO News. The child was transported to the hospital “in critical condition.” “The boy later succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased by the doctor.” An autopsy conducted Sunday showed 26 stab wounds throughout his body by a 12-inch “serrated military knife that has a seven-inch blade.” The 32-year-old mother, whose identity has not been released, is in “serious condition” with over a dozen stab wounds on her body. She is recovering at a local hospital and “is expected to survive this brutal attack.”Czuba was sitting “upright outside on the ground near the driveway of the residence” with a laceration on his forehead. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment and then transported to the Will County Sheriff's Office Public Safety Office for questioning. Czuba “did not make any statements to detectives regarding his involvement in this heinous attack,” the news release said.“Despite the suspect not providing a statement to detectives, personnel were able to gather enough information through interviews and evidence to formally charge Joseph Czuba with numerous criminal offences.”He was charged with first degree murder, attempted first degree murder, two counts of hate crime, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.“Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the on-going Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis.”
