Landlord accused of killing 6-year-old Palestinian American boy pleads not guilty to murder and hate crime charges
(CNN) — The landlord accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy near Chicago over two weeks ago pleaded not guilty to murder and hate crime charges in an Illinois court Monday. On October 14, Wadea Al-Fayoume was stabbed 26 times at his home in Plainfield Township, Illinois, by his family’s landlord, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said. His mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32, also suffered more than a dozen stab wounds but survived, authorities said. The landlord, Joseph M. Czuba, 71, did not make a statement to detectives, but investigators determined the victims were “targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis ,” the sheriff’s office said. Czuba was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of a hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s office said . Czuba attended the hearing wearing a red county jail jumpsuit. He ple