People of all faiths gather outside Dallas City Hall for Palestinian-American boy's vigil
DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) — On Wednesday night, people of all faiths gathered outside Dallas City Hall for a vigil for a 6-year-old boy who was brutally killed in Illinois.
Authorities say Palestinian-American Wadea Al-Fayoume was targeted and stabbed to death by his landlord in an anti-Muslim attack.
"I think I can speak for a lot of us who felt a really indescribable feeling of just an overwhelming sadness that this was allowed to happen," said Palestinian Youth Movement member Raneem Al-Hendy.
Authorities say the boy was stabbed 26 times in the Chicago suburb of Plainfield last Saturday. His mom was also stabbed several times, but survived.
Investigators say the family was targeted by their landlord, 71-year-old Joseph Czuba, because they are Palestinian-Americans. He was arrested on first degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery and two counts of hate crimes.
On Monday, a local imam spoke at the funeral for the young boy.
"It's terrifying," Dr. Omar Qazi said. "It's very scary and it hits home. My daughter here is almost 4 years old and the thing that breaks my heart is when he went in there to attack, the boy ran up to him to give him a hug. There's no doubt about it—this was a hate crime."
He said his community is seeing reports "right and left" of people getting apprehended in coffee shops, getting stopped in grocery stores, and even getting attacked in their cars.
"You just can't help but think everyone that you meet...do they really feel like this about us or what is going to send the next person over?" Dr. Qazi said.