Wadea Al-Fayoume: What to know about brutal killing of Muslim boy in US

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - The murder of a young boy has elicited significant reactions within the US and Canada at a time when concerns about hate speech and the threat of "lone actors" are heightened amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Six-year-old Palestinian-American Wadea Al-Fayoume, who was brutally stabbed 26 times in the US state of Illinois was laid to rest Monday.

His mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32, was critically injured after the family’s landlord stabbed the pair because of their Muslim faith. The US Justice Department has opened a federal hate crime investigation into the attack.

What happened?

The landlord, Joseph M. Czuba, 71, knocked on their door Saturday. When she opened, Czuba attempted to choke and stab Shahin before she ran into the bathroom and called 911.

When Shahin came out, she found her child covered with stab wounds. A 12-inch knife was still in his body, which was taken for an autopsy.

"This all happened in seconds," Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told reporters Sunday.

"The boy had just celebrated his birthday a couple of weeks before and he was a lovely boy who loved his family, his friends, he loved soccer, basketball," said Rehab.

Czuba has a Jewish background.

- Charges

Will County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were sent to the residence in Plainfield Township, an area outside Chicago, at around 11.38 a.m. local time.

Czuba was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of a 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," the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Deputies found Czuba sitting on the ground outside near the driveway of the residence and they located the two victims inside a bedroom of the residence.

- What did Biden say?

President Joe Biden denounced the murder hours after the news Sunday. He said he and first lady Jill Biden "were shocked and sickened" to learn of Wadea’s brutal murder and the attempted murder of his mother.

"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," he said.

Biden urged Americans to unite against Islamophobia in the wake of the killing.

"As Americans, we must come together and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred. I have said repeatedly that I will not be silent in the face of hate. We must be unequivocal. There is no place in America for hate against anyone," he said.

- Federal hate crime probe

The Justice Department said Sunday it launched a federal hate crime investigation into the tragic murder.

"I am heartbroken by the abhorrent killing of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a six-year-old child who died after being stabbed 26 times with a military-style knife," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement where he offered his condolences.

"This incident cannot help but further raise the fears of Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian communities in our country with regard to hate-fueled violence," it said, adding that no one in the US "should have to live in fear of violence because of how they worship or where they or their family come from.”

Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said there is "no humane world that can and should tolerate the murder of an innocent child because of his identity."

- Funeral

Thousands gathered at the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, Illinois, for Wadea’s funeral.

Hundreds more prayed outside, waving Palestinian flags as they called for peace amid the Israel-Hamas war, according to the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper

Oday Al-Fayoume, said before the funeral prayer that he was there as Wadea’s father, not as a "political person, or a religious person, or anything."

"I’m here as the father of a child whose rights were taken from him," he said in Arabic. "What happened is a wake-up call for us all."

The ceremony was attended by Rep. Jesus Garcia, a progressive congressman from Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Plainfield Mayor John Argoudelis.

- Czuba's first court appearance

Czuba made his initial court appearance Monday where he made limited comments and accepted a public defender to handle his case.

He was ordered held without bond and a preliminary hearing was set for Oct. 30, according to CNN.

Rehab said Wadea "paid the price for the atmosphere of hate and authorization and dehumanization" in the US "as a result of the irresponsible leadership and lopsided one-sided statements and coverage that we're seeing in the media, elected officials, all across."

Canada Foreign Minister Melanie Joly called Wadea’s killing "a horrendous act of Islamophobia."

"No child, no family, no community should face such vile forms of hate. My heart is with his family & loved ones as they process this tremendous loss," she wrote on X.