Mourners in heavily Palestinian Chicago suburb remember Muslim boy killed as kind, energetic
CHICAGO — Crowds of mourners in a heavily Palestinian Chicago suburb paid respects Monday to a 6-year-old Muslim boy killed in what authorities allege was a hate crime, hours after new details emerged about evidence used to charge the family’s landlord with stabbing the child and his mother.
Wadea Al-Fayoume, who had recently had a birthday, died Saturday after being stabbed dozens of times in a brutal attack that drew condemnation from local elected officials as well as the White House. Authorities said the family’s landlord, Joseph Czuba, was upset over the Israel-Hamas war and attacked them after the boy’s mother proposed they “pray for peace.”
In Bridgeview, which is home to a large and established Palestinian community, family and friends remembered Wadea as a kind and energetic boy who loved playing games. His body was carried in a small white casket — which was at times draped with a Palestinian flag — through packed crowds.
Mosque Foundation Imam Jamal Said reflected on the boy’s death during the janazah, or funeral service, but also the wider loss of life in the war between Israel and Hamas.
“Wadea is a child and he is not the only one under attack,” he said, adding many “children are being slaughtered literally in the Holy Land, unfortunately, which is very sad.”
Earlier Monday, Czuba made his first court appearance on murder, attempted murder and hate crime charges. In detailing the charges Sunday, the Will County Sheriff’s Office determined “both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis.”
Czuba, a Plainfield resident, replied, “Yes, sir,” when asked if he understood the charges and was subsequently returned to jail in Joliet, 50 miles southwest of Chicago. A Will County judge granted a court-appointed lawyer. The public defender’s office did not immediately return messages seeking comment about the charges against him.
Palestinian Americans with Gaza connections struggle with feelings of helplessness over violence after Hamas’ attack and Israel’s retaliation.
The boy’s mother, Hanaan Shahin, told investigators that she rents two rooms on the first floor of the Plainfield home while Czuba and his wife live on the second floor, Asst. State’s Atty. Michael Fitzgerald said in a court filing.
“He was angry at her for what was going on in Jerusalem,” Fitzgerald said. “She responded to him, ‘Let’s pray for peace.’ ... Czuba then attacked her with a knife.”
Shahin fought him off and went into a bathroom where she stayed until police arrived. Wadea, meanwhile, was in his own room, Fitzgerald said.
“Wadea should be heading to school in the morning. Instead, his parents will wake up without their son,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a written statement.
Jewish and Muslim groups have reported an increase of hateful rhetoric in the wake of the war. Several cities have stepped up police patrols.
College campuses are supposed to be bastions of intellectual discourse and debate, but the war in Gaza underscores tense narratives and little if any interchange between students.
“We are not animals, we are humans,” said the boy’s uncle, Yousef Hannon. “We want people to see us as humans, to feel us as humans, to deal with us as humans.”
On the day of the attack, police found Czuba with a cut on his forehead, sitting on the ground outside the home.
Czuba’s wife, Mary, told police that her husband feared they would be attacked by people of Middle Eastern descent and had withdrawn $1,000 from a bank “in case the U.S. grid went down,” Fitzgerald said in the court document.
In Bridgeview, Wadea’s father, Oday Al Fayoume, briefly spoke to reporters in Arabic, saying he was trying to make sense of what happened to his son and the boy’s mother.
“I’m here as the father of the boy, not as a politician or religious scholar. I’m here as the father of a boy whose rights were violated,” he said.
Community members chanted prayers in unison outside the mosque following the janazah as leaders transported the casket into a hearse. “There is no God, but God,” “The martyr is beloved by God” and “God is greatest,” they chanted, calls many Muslims recite in moments of grief, distress or remembrance.
At a news conference outside the mosque, speakers called for politicians and media to be responsible with their rhetoric and coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. Attendees gathered close to hear, phones recording and expressions somber.
The Justice Department said it opened a hate crime investigation into the attack.
“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,” President Biden said.
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