The father of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume, who was stabbed to death in October, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Wadea and his mother Hanan Shaheen were stabbed on October 14 in Plainfield Township, Illinois. Shaheen survived but her young son died. Their landlord 71-year-old Joseph Czuba was arrested for the stabbing and faces charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and two counts of hate crime, USA Today reports.
Authorities believe Czuba’s consumption of media related to the violence in Gaza and Israel motivated the attack. Czuba’s wife said he was worried Shaheen’s “Palestinian friends were going to harm them.”
Wadea’s father Oday Al-Fayoume filed a wrongful death lawsuit on November 21 in Will County court, The Chicago Sun-Times reports. The lawsuit names both Joseph Czuba and his wife Mary Czuba.
“Justice comes in many forms … and there is, obviously, unbelievable loss in Wadea, but his mother also was injured seriously, and we believe that there are avenues to recover compensation for what the family’s been through,” Ben Crane, an attorney representing Oday Al-Fayoume, told The Chicago Sun-Times.
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