Latest news with #WadeaAlFayoume
BBC News
12 hours ago
- Politics
- BBC News
US landlord who killed Palestinian-American boy dies in Illinois prison
An Illinois landlord convicted of murdering his six-year-old Palestinian-American tenant in a violent hate crime has died in Czuba was sentenced to 53 years behind bars in May for the murder of Wadea al-Fayoume as well as the severe wounding and attempted murder of his mother Hanaan Shaheen in 2023. Police say the landlord targeted the pair for their Islamic faith shortly after the start of the Israel-Gaza war. He died at the Illinois Department of Corrections on Thursday, according to the Will County Sheriff's had served less than three months of his decades-long sentence when he died of a currently unknown cause at the age of 73. The family had been renting rooms from Czuba in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64km) from Chicago, when the attack took place. Police say Czuba stabbed al-Fayoume 26 times. The boy later died in was convicted of two counts of hate crime, one count of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and two of aggravated mother testified in court that Czuba had also attacked her with a knife before moving on to her son, telling her "you, as a Muslim, must die", Reuters did not attend her son's funeral as she was recovering in hospital from injuries received in the crime scene footage displayed during the trial was so explicit that the judge agreed not to show it to audience members. Al-Fayoume's family had been among the took less than 90 minutes to return a verdict in the case that received attention across the US and renewed fears of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian Rehab, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Chicago office, said in a statement after Czuba's death that while "this depraved killer has died, the hate is still alive and well".A memorial to al-Fayoume was unveiled at a playground in Plainfield in June. The city is home to a large and well-established Palestinian community.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Illinois landlord who killed 6-year-old Muslim boy in 2023 hate crime has died, police say
The Brief Joseph Czuba, the suburban landlord convicted of killing a Muslim boy in a 2023 hate crime, has died, police say. It was unclear exactly what led to Czuba's death. He was convicted earlier this year of killing Wadea Al-Fayoume and attacking his mother in Will County. Joseph Czuba, the Will County landlord who was convicted of murdering 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and attacking his mother in a 2023 hate crime, has died. What we know A Will County Sheriff's official confirmed Czuba's death and said they were notified by the Illinois Department of Corrections on behalf of the boy's mother, Hanan Shaheen. It was unclear exactly when or how the 73-year-old died. The backstory Czuba was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery, and committing a hate crime in connection with the death of Al-Fayoume and the stabbing of his mother in October 2023. Authorities said Czuba targeted the family because they were Muslim, and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas that erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas attack on Israel. The attack took place inside Czuba's Plainfield Township home, where the victims had been his tenants for more than two years. Prosecutors said Czuba, influenced by inflammatory media and political rhetoric, turned violent just days after the Israel-Hamas war began and stabbed Al-Fayoume to death and seriously injured his mother. "He told me, 'You, as a Muslim, must die,'" Shaheen said during the trial, describing how Czuba attacked her with a knife and left her bloodied before she locked herself inside a bathroom and called 911 as her son screamed from another room. During the trial, jurors watched a police video of Czuba who spoke unprompted about the attack. "I was afraid they were going to do Jihad on me," he said, later referring to Muslims as "infested rats." DNA evidence, witness testimony, and the recovery of the bloodied knife supported the prosecution's case. The crime garnered national headlines as hate crimes targeting Muslims and Jewish communities surged in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas and subsequent Israeli campaign in Gaza. Just last month, community members in Plainfield unveiled a statue depicting Al-Fayoume's silhouette at a park the boy used to play at.
Fox News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Police raid DC shooting suspect Elias Rodriguez's Chicago apartment
Authorities raided the Chicago apartment of a 30-year-old left-wing activist accused of killing two Israeli embassy workers outside a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C., Thursday, a day after the surprise attack, as the FBI looks to verify the authenticity of an apparent antisemitic "manifesto" circulating online. Agents and officers in tactical gear, carrying rifles and at least one ballistic shield, were seen swarming the brick building around 9 a.m. Elias Rodriguez is accused of lurking outside an event at the museum and then opening fire on two people as they were leaving. Images from FOX 32 Chicago show investigators on scene for much of Thursday morning, coming and going from an apartment complex in the Albany Park neighborhood. One of them also showed a sign hanging in a window reading, "Justice for Wadea." A neighbor, John Wayne Fry, told reporters outside Thursday that the window belonged to Rodriguez. "That gave me the impression that they were very, very sensitive people, especially about the issue of Palestine," he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the suspect a "brutal terrorist" Thursday and condemned liberal governments in Europe that he accused of supporting Hamas over Israel. After the Metropolitan Police Department took Rodriguez into custody, he shouted the anti-Israel protest slogan, "Free, free Palestine!" Wadea al-Fayoume was a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy killed in his family's Illinois home in a hate crime attack days after Hamas launched a terror attack against Israel that authorities called the worst terrorist attack in Israel's history. It left more than 1,200 civilians dead, including at least 40 Americans, according to the Defense Department. Seven days after the Hamas attack, Wadea's landlord Joseph Czuba, 73, stabbed him 26 times with a knife and attacked his mother, too. A jury found him guilty in February of murder, attempted murder, hate crimes and other charges. A possible manifesto condemning Israel's response to the Hamas attack has been circulating online, attributed to Rodriguez without confirmation. Dan Bongino, deputy director of the FBI, wrote on X that the bureau was aware of the document and investigating its authenticity. "The subject is in custody and interviewed last night at approximately 1 a.m.," he added. "As this is a pending investigation, we will share more with you when we are able." Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said Rodriguez is the only suspect. In 2017, he was photographed by Liberation – a self-described socialist news site – outside then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel's house during a dual protest against Amazon and the death of a Black man who had been killed by a police officer. The article appears to have been taken down, but an archived version shows he accused Amazon of "whitening Seattle" and claimed that the corporation forced people into "deeper and deeper poverty." The outlet described him as a member of the "Party for Socialism and Liberation" – at least at the time. The group, which has publicly criticized Israel's response to the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack, disavowed Rodriguez Tuesday and condemned the shooting. "He had a brief association with one branch of the PSL that ended in 2017. We know of no contact with him in over 7 years. The victims of Wednesday night's shooting have been identified as Sarah Milgrim, a U.S. citizen who worked at the embassy, and Yaron Lischinsky, a Christian Israeli. Lischinsky's father, Daniel Lischinsky, told Fox News' Trey Yingst that the two were dating, and his son had planned to propose to Milgrim soon. "They were in love, one for the other," he said. "The embassy told us they were like a star couple at the embassy. I never expected something like this." They were killed walking out of an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee – that focused on finding humanitarian solutions for Palestinians in Gaza.
