Mariah Cain, Staff Writer
Joseph M. Czuba, 71, was arrested and accused of murdering Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy and severely wounding his mother in Illinois. Czuba was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crimes, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, according to the Will County sheriff’s office.
“We are not animals, we are humans. We want people to see us as humans, to feel us as humans, to deal with us as humans, because this is what we are,” said Yousef Hannon, the boy’s uncle in a news conference. Czuba was the family’s landlord for the past two years before he stabbed the boy 26 times and his mother 12 times while saying “You Muslims must die,” according to the 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,” said President Biden in a statement from the White House.
