Chicago area landlord indicted for murder, hate crime in stabbing death of 6-year-old Palestinian boy
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Plainfield Township landlord was formally indicted on Thursday in the murder of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and the stabbing of his mother in an alleged hate crime earlier this month.
A Will County grand jury indicted Joseph Czuba on three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated battery, and two counts of hate crime. He is due back in court on Monday.
Authorities have said Czuba targeted the victims because of their Muslim faith, and because of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Feds open investigation
The Justice Department has also opened an investigation into the case. The FBI is also now looking into federal hate crime charges.
Prosecutors said Czuba wanted 32-year-old Hanaan Shahin and her 6-year-old son, Wadee Alfayoumi , to move out of the home they rented from him, and believed he and his wife "were in danger," because he feared the woman he stabbed "was going to call over her Palestinian friends or family to harm them."
Shahin told detectives that on Oct. 14, Czuba knocked on her door, and the two of them got into an argument over the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the charges. Czuba told Shahin "he was angry at her for what was going on in Jerusalem," prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
When Czuba attacked Shahin with a knife, she ran to the bathroom to call 911, but was unable to get her son into the bathroom with her. While she was in the bathroom, Czuba killed her son.
According to the Will County Sheriff's Office, Czuba stabbed Shahin more than a dozen times and stabbed Wadee 26 times. The Council on American Islamic Relations said Wadee had just celebrated his birthday a couple of weeks ago.
Prosecutors said Shahin has two other children, who were later found to be with their father in Chicago, and were not at home at the time of the attack.
Detectives also questioned Czuba's wife, who said he frequently listened to conservative talk radio, and was "heavily interested" in the conflict in the Middle East. Czuba wanted Shahin and her son to move out of the home they rented from him, and believed that he and his wife "were in danger" and that Shahin was going to "call over her Palestinian friends or family to harm them."
Czuba's public defender said he was an Air Force veteran who was honorably discharged from the military, is self-employed, owns several properties in Plainfield, and was a longtime member of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Plainfield. He also has ongoing health issues due to a prognosis of prostate cancer.
He is being held at the Will County Jail as he awaits trial.