Joseph Czuba, an Illinois landlord convicted of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy, died in custody two months into his 53-year prison sentence. Czuba was convicted on murder and hate crime charges, which authorities said were motivated by anti-Muslim hate. The killing took place in October 2023, days after Hamas attacked Israel. Czuba stabbed 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and his mother, Hanan Shaheen, in their home, killing Wadee and severely wounding her. The judge who sentenced Czuba on May 2, Amy Bertani-Tomczak, called the attack “brutal and heinous.”
After the Oct. 7 attacks, Czuba began making hateful remarks about Muslims and asked her and her son to move out of the property. As he listened to coverage of the Middle East war, prosecutors said, Czuba became increasingly erratic and paranoid. He then directed his rage toward Wadee, a kindergartner at the time who loved soccer and Legos.
The case received global attention and stoked fear and outrage among the large Palestinian and Muslim communities in Chicago’s suburbs. Some leaders in those communities linked the killing to dehumanizing rhetoric toward Palestinians in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks.
