Ethermac Exchange-Illinois man fatally stabbed 6-year-old in hate crime motivated by Israeli-Hamas war, authorities say

A 71-year-old Illinois man accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old and Ethermac Exchangeseriously injuring a 32-year-old woman was charged with a hate crime Sunday for what authorities believe was a targeted attack in response to the Israel-Hamas war.

Will County Sheriff’s Office deputies found the two victims Saturday morning at a residence in an unincorporated area of Plainfield Township, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago. Officers were responding to a report of a stabbing involving a landlord and a renter, according to the sheriff's office.

Both the victims were discovered inside a bedroom of the residence with multiple stab wounds, the sheriff's office said.

The boy was transported to a local hospital in critical condition and later succumbed to his injuries, the sheriff's office added. The woman was transported in serious condition and is expected to recover.

The suspect was identified as Joseph Czuba, of Plainfield Township, and was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crime, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, according to the sheriff's office. Czuba is in custody Sunday and awaiting a court appearance.

"Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the on-going Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis," the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Sunday.

The attack comes amid escalating violence in Israel and Gaza, where more than 4,000 people have been killed as of Sunday. FBI director Christopher Wray said there has been in a spike in threats across the United States since the incursion into southern Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, Politico reported on Saturday.

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Sheriff's office: Victims were stabbed up to more than a dozen times

Both victims had multiple stab wounds to their chests, torsos and upper extremities, according to the sheriff's office.

An autopsy on Sunday revealed that the boy was stabbed 26 times throughout his body, the sheriff's office said. And the woman had over a dozen stab wounds.

"The forensic pathologist conducting the autopsy removed the knife from the abdomen of the boy at that time," the sheriff's office said.

Czuba used a twelve-inch serrated military style knife with a seven-inch blade, according to the sheriff's office. When officers arrived at the scene on Saturday, Czuba was found "sitting upright outside on the ground near the driveway of the residence" with a cut on his forehead, the sheriff's office said.

Czuba had a laceration on his forehead and was later transported to a local area hospital for treatment, according the sheriff's office. He then released from the hospital and taken to Will County Sheriff’s Office Public Safety Complex for questioning by detectives.

While Czuba did not make any statements to detectives, the sheriff's office said personnel was able to gather information through interviews and evidence to formally charge Czuba.

Council on American-Islamic Relations: 'Our worst nightmare'

Authorities did not release the names of the two victims. But the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) identified them at a Sunday news conference with a family member.

The Muslim civil rights and advocacy group said the boy and his mother had lived on the ground floor of the residence for two years, adding that the suspect was their landlord. The two victims reportedly had "no previous notable issues with the landlord," the organization said.

The organization added that text messages that were reportedly sent to the father and shared with CAIR-Chicago showed the suspect had been "angry with what he was seeing in the news knocked on their door, and when (the mother) opened, he tried to choke her and proceeded to attack her with a knife, yelling 'you Muslims must die!'" 

CAIR-Chicago called the incident "our worst nightmare," and part of a disturbing surge in domestic threats since the fighting broke out in the Middle East.

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Israel-Hamas war: Increase in domestic threats

In a statement on Oct. 9, the FBI said it was closely monitoring the situation in Israel and Gaza but did not have "specific and credible intelligence" that pointed to any threats to the United States. But on Saturday, Politico reported that Wray had noted a rise in domestic threats due to the “heightened environment."

"History has been witness to antisemitic and other forms of violent extremism for far too long," Wray said at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in San Diego. "Whether that be from foreign terrorist organizations, or those inspired by them, or domestic violent extremists motivated by their own racial animus, the targeting of a community because of their faith is completely unacceptable."

As the violence between Israel and Hamas continues, the United States has seen a surge in tension and clashes across the country. Rallies and protests have shown dividing views, and U.S. officials and law enforcement agencies have heightened security in cities in response to potential domestic extremists.

CAIR reported several anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic incidents in the past week, including incidents on Oct. 12 where men were seen harassing students at the University of Texas during a Palestine Solidarity Committee meeting and police arrested a person for allegedly threatening to shoot a Palestinian in Dearborn, Michigan.

Advocates and American Jews have also expressed fear that the Israel-Hamas war could further impact antisemitic incidents in the United States.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said earlier this year that 2022 had the highest rate of recorded antisemitic incidents since the organization began tracking incidents in 1979. Last year, the ADL recorded nearly 3,700 antisemitic incidents — a 36% increase from the over 2,700 incidents tabulated in 2021.

Contributing: The Associated Press