{"id":1227,"date":"2025-05-02T17:27:27","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T17:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/?p=1227"},"modified":"2025-05-02T17:27:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T17:27:27","slug":"plainfield-landlord-gets-53-years-in-prison-in-hate-crime-killing-of-6-year-old-palestinian-american-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/?p=1227","title":{"rendered":"Plainfield landlord gets 53 years in prison in hate crime killing of 6-year-old Palestinian American boy"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A Plainfield landlord was sentenced to 53 years in prison Friday for attacking his Palestinian American tenant and killing her son, 6-year-old Wadee Al Fayoumi \u2014 stabbing him 26 times \u2014 in one of the most violent hate crimes to immediately follow the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel. <\/p>\n

Joseph Czuba, 73, was convicted of murder and and hate crime charges<\/a> in late February after a four-day trial. Prosecutors said he carried out the murder after becoming increasingly paranoid about the war in Gaza after listening to commentary on conservative talk radio. A jury deliberated for a little over an hour before convicting him of all counts.<\/p>\n

The sentencing concludes a case that drew international attention to Islamaphobia in America following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel. Thousands attended Wadee\u2019s funeral<\/a>. Earlier this year, Wadee\u2019s mother Hanan Shaheen discussed Islamophobia with then-President Joe Biden<\/a> at the White House.<\/p>\n

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President Joe Biden and Hanan Shaheen, mother of Wadee Al Fayoumi, a six-year-old Palestinian American boy who was killed in a 2023 hate crime in Plainfield, Illinois, hold hands during a White House meeting this week.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

At trial, Wadee\u2019s mother Hanan Shaheen testified<\/a> that Czuba started treating her differently after the Oct. 7 attacks. She testified that Czuba told her, \u201cYour people are killing Jewish [people] and babies in Israel. Muslims are not welcome here, not in my home.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the morning of Oct. 14, 2023, Czuba banged on her door as Shaheen was in her bathroom preparing to give her son a shower, she testified. Czuba pushed into the unit and began stabbing her while yelling, \u201cYou Muslim must die,\u201d she testified. <\/p>\n

Shaheen locked herself in a bathroom and called 911, she testified. But while inside she heard her son screaming. Police arrived and found 62-pound Wadee on a bed, bleeding. He had been stabbed 26 times. Officers found Czuba at the scene covered in blood with a holster for a knife attached to his side, according to police testimony.<\/p>\n

Czuba was recorded in the back of a squad car telling an officer that he was afraid for his life. \u201cI was afraid they were going to do jihad on me,\u201d he said in video shown during the trial.<\/p>\n

Czuba\u2019s now ex-wife, who was not home at the time of the attack, testified that she pushed back against Czuba\u2019s claims that Shaheen would bring friends over to harm him. She testified that Czuba had no reservations about Shaheen\u2019s Muslim faith or Palestinian background when he began renting to her in 2021 at Czuba\u2019s Plainfield property on Lincoln Highway.<\/p>\n

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Joseph Czuba stands before Circuit Judge Dave Carlson for his arraignment in the murder of 6-year-old Wadee Al-Fayoumi, at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n