Illinois man pleads not guilty to hate crime and murder charges in attack on Muslim mother and son

FILE - Wadea Al Fayoume's father, Oday Al Fayoume, right, and his uncle Mahmoud Yousef attend a vigil for Wadea at Prairie Activity and Recreation center in Plainfield, Ill., Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. A man accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in an attack on a Palestinian-American woman and Wadea, her young son, will appear in court on Monday, Oct. 30, following his indictment by an Illinois grand jury. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
FILE - Wadea Al Fayoume's father, Oday Al Fayoume, right, and his uncle Mahmoud Yousef attend a vigil for Wadea at Prairie Activity and Recreation center in Plainfield, Ill., Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. A man accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in an attack on a Palestinian-American woman and Wadea, her young son, will appear in court on Monday, Oct. 30, following his indictment by an Illinois grand jury. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — A man accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in an attack on a Palestinian American woman and her young son pleaded not guilty Monday following his indictment by an Illinois grand jury.

Joseph Czuba, 71, is charged in the fatal stabbing of six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and the wounding of Hanaan Shahin on Oct. 14. Authorities said the victims were targeted because of their Muslim faith.

Shahin told police that Czuba, her landlord in Plainfield in Will County, was upset over the Israel-Hamas war and attacked them after she had urged him to “pray for peace.”

Czuba appeared in court Monday wearing a red jail uniform, socks and slippers.

His attorney George Lenard entered the not guilty plea. Czuba did not speak, looking down at the podium as he stood before the judge in the court in Joliet, 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.

Lenard declined to comment to reporters after the hearing.

Shahin, 32, is recovering from multiple stab wounds. Hundreds of people attended her son’s funeral on Oct. 16.

The murder charge in the indictment against Czuba describes the boy’s death as the result of “exceptionally brutal or heinous behavior.”

Shahin asked the public to “pray for peace” and said her son was her best friend in a statement issued last week through the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The stabbings were part of rising hostility against Muslim and Jewish communities in the U.S. since Hamas attacked Israel.