By Caroline Kubzansky
Chicago Tribune headline news online news
(Chicago Tribune) — Months after surviving a knife attack in unincorporated Will County that killed a 6-year-old Palestinian boy, the child’s mother has sued the alleged attacker, his wife and brother for wrongful death, battery and negligence.
Joseph Czuba, 72, is currently awaiting trial in the Will County Adult Detention Facility for allegedly stabbing Wadea Al-Fayoume 26 times and seriously injuring his mother, Hanaan Shahin, over his anger about the war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023.
In the days between Hamas’ initial attack on Israel and the Oct. 14 attack in unincorporated Plainfield, Czuba reportedly became “heavily interested” in the conflict through conservative talk radio and targeted the pair because they were Muslim and Palestinian, according to the Will County Sheriff’s office.
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Wadea’s death drew condemnation from elected officials across the state and country. President Joe Biden named him in a national address shortly after he died and federal authorities launched investigations into the attack shortly after it occurred.
Shahin’s attorney, John Simon, said the lawsuit, filed late last month in Will County Circuit Court, had been delayed due to the ongoing federal hate crime investigation that is currently underway and which has limited some discovery.
“We are welcoming the opportunity to get to the bottom of what caused this man to do this and who knew about it,” he said. “This is a racially and religiously charged incident and anyone who had any ability to stop it should have intervened.”
The complaint accuses Czuba’s wife, Mary Czuba, and his brother, Daniel Czuba, of failing to warn Shahin that Czuba “had extreme and violent thoughts and opinions towards Palestinians and Muslims, including Hanaan and Wadea Al-Fayoume, and presented a risk of foreseeable physical harm to Hanaan Shahin and Wadea Al-Fayoume.”
The suit also accuses Czuba himself of wrongful death and battery and names his and his brother’s rental corporations as defendants.
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The 39-page complaint states that Shahin had identified the rental property through Daniel Czuba and moved in about two years before the attack. According to the complaint, Joseph Czuba approached his tenants several times over the week between the start of the war and the attack to tell them he hated Muslims. When Shahin told Mary Czuba about those interactions, Mary Czuba allegedly assured her that she and Wadea were safe.
Czuba also allegedly asked Shahin and her son to move out of the house and told Mary Czuba that he feared Shahin’s “Palestinian friends” would hurt them about three days before the attack.
According to the complaint, Czuba first attacked Shahin while she was giving Wadea a bath and returned to stab Wadea after she had called 911 and before authorities arrived. The last words Shahin heard her son say were “oh no,” the complaint said.
Simon said that should the jury find the case in Shahin’s favor, it would be up to them to determine how much she would be awarded in monetary damages. The public defender representing Czuba in criminal proceedings did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday night.
Czuba’s next criminal court date is 9:30 a.m. June 14, according to Will County Sheriff records.
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