'We're not monsters': Community mourns 6-year-old amidst fears of anti-Muslim hate

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – Hundreds of mourners gathered for the funeral Monday afternoon of Wadea Al-Fayoume, the 6-year-old boy stabbed to death Saturday in what authorities say was a violent and ugly response to the Israel-Hamas war.

Wadea and his mother, Haanan Shahin, 32, were attacked Saturday. The boy was stabbed at least 26 times. His mother, who was stabbed at least a dozen times, survived.

His death has led many in the Arab-American community to worry about whether more violence will come their way. Wadea and his mother are Palestinian American.

Outside the Mosque Foundation, which was established nearly 70 years ago in this Chicago suburb, hundreds of people, some of them bearing Palestinian flags, pleaded for action. At times, wailing pierced the gathering.

Billboards mounted on trucks projected a picture of Wadea, wearing a birthday hat, along with messages including “Urge President Biden to condemn anti-Palestinian bigotry unreservedly” and “Dehumanization Through Propaganda Breeds Hate Crimes.” 

Joseph Czuba, 71, of Plainfield Township, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and two counts of hate crime according to the Will County Sheriff's Office. Attorney General Merrick Garland has announced a federal hate crimes investigation.

“No one in the United States of America should have to live in fear of violence because of how they worship or where they or their family come from,” Garland said in his announcement of the federal investigation. Authorities in Dearborn, Michigan, also announced they arrested 41-year-old Carl Mintz on Thursday after he was accused of threatening Palestinian residents through a social media post, police said.

Bridgeview Mayor Steven Landek and other officials spoke outside the center. Landek called upon non-Muslims to support their fellow residents.

When the mosque doors opened for Wadea’s service, the crowd split, men upstairs, women downstairs. They removed their shoes and packed the prayer room, leaving some mourners to watch TV screens in the carpeted hallways. 

“He is not the only one … being slaughtered," said Sheikh Jamal Said, who presided over Wadea's service. “The Palestinians aren’t going nowhere. … No one can force them out.”

Federal investigation:Stabbing death of 6-year-old Muslim boy in Illinois to be investigated as hate crime

The attack on Wadea and Shahin came at their home, the ground floor of Czuba’s house, and was reported as a stabbing between a landlord and a tenant.

Inside, Wadea and Shahin were discovered with more than a dozen stab wounds. Czuba was found sitting on the ground near the driveway. The mother and son were rushed to a local hospital in critical condition. Wadea died Sunday, but his mother was expected to survive, law enforcement said.

Czuba didn't answer questions, but law enforcement determined he stabbed the woman and her child "due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis," the sheriff's office said.

At a news conference Sunday, the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the boy and mother had lived at the home owned by Czuba two years with no reported problems.

But according to text messages between Shahin and the boy's father that were shared with the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Czuba yelled "You Muslims must die" during the attack.

In an autopsy Sunday, the weapon, a 12-inch serrated military-style knife, was removed from the boy's abdomen, the sheriff's office said.

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'History repeating itself'

Wadea's death has many in the Muslim community worried about safety.

Areej Samara, 29, a business owner in the Chicago area, said hearing about Wadea's murder brought back the trauma of growing up as a Muslim-American after 9/11.

"It's almost like this feeling we have of waking up in the morning and saying, 'What else do we have to prove to the world that we are not today?" Samara told USA TODAY.

"We're not monsters. Our kids have dreams and hopes just like other kids, and for that fear to follow us in our own backyard is just a different kind of unsettling feeling."

Also in Chicago, 33-year-old Humera Syed said her 2-year-old's Islamic school sent a message alerting parents of increased security measures in response to the escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas.

"Obviously, it's not only my school, but I know there are other Islamic schools around the area that have done the same," Syed told USA TODAY. "It is hitting very hard in our community, and they're trying to obviously protect the children however they can."

Syed said she was disheartened by the feeling that anti-Muslim sentiment was returning.

"It's just unfortunate that it's history repeating itself again, the dehumanization of Palestinians and Muslims," she said. "It's just hard to walk around thinking that these people have this feeling towards us again."

Wesam Shahed, a Palestinian attorney and Chicago Muslim community leader, was 3 years old when his family moved to the Plainfield area with his mother and two brothers.

News of Saturday's attack was compounded by the loss of six members of his family in Gaza, he said.

"How do you balance mourning with this kind of energy of making sure that the community is staying together and protecting itself?" Shahed asked.

Rasha Mubarak, 38, a Palestinian American activist from Orlando, said the community was "devastated and disturbed and mortified" to hear of Wadea's death.

"This is exactly what we warned people about," she told USA TODAY, referring to an increase in hate crimes against Palestinians and Muslims. She added that her community is now not only mourning deaths of children in the Middle East but on American soil.

"The fear is real and natural."

In the face of grief at home and abroad, Shahed said he hopes members inside and outside the Muslim community reach out to their friends and loved ones. "I would say to others, please check in with your brothers and sisters, your friends and allies who are facing this and share the love during this time," he said. "It really does make a world of a difference."

Contributing: Minnah Arshad