US: Man in his seventies kills 6-year-old Palestinian boy in hate crime, arrested

Joseph M. Czuba, 71, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crimes and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after his arrest over the weekend.

The gruesome crime, which triggered widespread condemnation including from US President Joe Biden, occurred in Plainfield Township, about 65 km southwest of Chicago, AP and AFP reported.

Biden said on Sunday (October 15): “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 knocked on the door and attempted to choke her, and said, 'you Muslims' must die," Ahmed Rehab, head of Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) told the media.

The attack was "our worst nightmare," CAIR said in a statement.

Stabbed 26 times

Authorities said the woman managed to call 911 as she fought off the landlord. When the police arrived, Czuba was sitting on the ground near the driveway of the residence with a laceration on his forehead.

The child, a Palestinian-American who recently turned six, was stabbed 26 times. He died in a hospital. The 32-year-old mother is expected to survive the "heinous" attack, authorities said in Illinois.

"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," said the CAIR statement.

A serrated military-style knife with a seven-inch blade was pulled from the boy's abdomen during the autopsy, the statement said.

“To take a six-year-old child's life in the name of bigotry is nothing short of evil," Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker said.

"This wasn't just a murder — it was a hate crime. And every single Illinoisan — including our Muslim, Jewish, and Palestinian neighbours — deserves to live free from the threat of such evil.”

Hate crime

In recent days, police in US cities and federal authorities have been on high alert for violence driven by antisemitic or Islamophobic sentiments.

FBI officials, along with Jewish and Muslim groups, have reported an increase of hateful and threatening rhetoric, AP said.

Israel declared war on Hamas on October 8, a day after Hamas fighters broke through into Israeli territory and shot, stabbed and burned to death more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

The subsequent relentless bombing of Gaza strip has killed more than 2,600 people, the majority ordinary Palestinians.

(With agency inputs)