PLAINFIELD, Ill. (WLS) — A man stabbed a child to death and critically injured a woman in the southern suburbs on Saturday morning because they are Muslim, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said on Sunday.
It happened just before 11:40 a.m. Saturday in Plainfield. A 32-year-old woman called 911, saying her landlord had attacked her with a knife. The caller said she ran to the bathroom and tried to fight the attacker off.
Sheriff’s deputies were sent to the home, which is located in the 16200 block of South Lincoln Highway near Lily Cache Road. Chopper 7 was over the scene.
When Will County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Plainfield Police Department officers arrived, they found the 71-year-old suspect, Joseph M. Czuba, sitting upright on the ground, near the home’s driveway. He had a cut on his forehead, and was later transported to a local hospital.
Deputies then found two victims, a 32-year-old woman and an 6-year-old boy, inside a bedroom. They each had suffered several dozen stab wounds to their chest, torso and arms.
The child, stabbed 26 times, was transported in critical condition to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, the sheriff’s office said. The woman was hospitalized in serious condition, and is expected to survive.
Police found a knife on the scene, and Czuba was treated and released from a local hospital before being transported to the Will County Sheriff’s Office Public Safety Complex for questioning.
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Czuba has been charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two hate crime counts and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Czuba did not make any statements to detectives about his involvement in the attack, but detectives determined that he targeted the victims due to their Muslim identities and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and Israel.
Trinity Jasnicka said she was shocked to see the scene right by her house, which she has lived in for 25 years.
“I’ve never heard or seen something this tragic happen,” Jasnicka said. “We were just coming down the road, saw the tape and just speechless for a second until we heard what happened. It’s tragic, for sure.”
There is no current threat to the public, the sheriff’s office said.
The video in the player above is from a previous report.
