A jury found an Illinois landlord guilty of murder and hate crime charges Friday for a brutal 2023 attack on a Palestinian American family that left a 6-year-old dead.

JOLIET, Ill. — An Illinois man was found guilty Friday in the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and the wounding of his mother, an attack that prosecutors said was motivated by anti-Muslim hate, just days after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.

A Will County jury has convicted a Plainfield, Illinois, landlord on all counts in the hate crime murder of a 6-year-old Palestinian boy, and the stabbing of the boy's mother. Jurors deliberated little more than an hour before convicting Joseph Czuba of one count of first-degree murder,

Joseph Czuba has been convicted of murdering 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi, a hate crime fueled by the Plainfield man’s hostility toward Palestinians and his anger over the Hamas attacks against

The boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, was fatally stabbed by 73-year-old Joseph Czuba, who stabbed the boy's mother Hanan Shaheen as well during the Oct. 14, 2023, attack in their Plainfield, Ill., home, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.

Joseph Czuba stabbed the child 26 times in October 2023, a week after the Israel-Gaza conflict began. A jury convicted him on murder, hate crimes and other charges.

A jury has convicted a 73-year-old man in the fatal stabbing of 6-year-old Wadee Al Fayoumi and the critical wounding of the boy’s mother.