The Chicago landlord accused of brutally stabbing a 6-year-old Palestinian-American tenant to death was paranoid that Muslims were planning acts of mass terror after listening to conservative radio shows, court documents show.
Joseph Czuba, 71, appeared in court on Monday, two days after he allegedly murdered little Wadea Al-Fayoume and attacked his mother, 32-year-old Hanan Shaheen, in the apartment they rented from him.
During a 45-minute hearing, prosecutors told the court how Czuba had been closely listening to talk radio coverage of the violence in Israel, and he was convinced his Muslim tenants were going to harm him as part of the “day of jihad” called for by Hamas leaders.
The landlord “believed he was in danger and [Shaheen] was going to call Palestinian friends to come and harm them,” Will County assistant state’s attorney Michael Fitzgerald said Czuba’s wife told investigators, according to the Chicago Sun Times.
After no terror attacks occurred on the day of jihad Friday, Czuba’s wife said he became convinced “the grid” would go down on Saturday and even went to the bank to withdraw $1,000 cash while ranting that he wanted their Muslim tenants out.
A public defender assigned to Czuba provided no evidence to back up his fears about Shaheen and her son.
The mother told investigators her last day with her son started out like any other. The two of them were having breakfast together when Czuba knocked on their door.
“Czuba is an angry man, but, on the day in question, he came to the house and said he was angry at her for what was happening in Jerusalem,” prosecutors said Shaheen told investigators.
“Let’s give peace a chance,” she reportedly told Czuba, before he lunged at her with a military-style serrated knife.
Shaheen was forced to barricade herself inside a bathroom while she called 911, but couldn’t reach her son in time to bring him to safety, court documents showed.
When officers arrived just before noon, they found Wadea dead on a bed with 26 stab wounds.
Czuba was found lying on his back in the backyard with a large knife in his belt and other knives lying in ground next to him, prosecutors said.
Shaheen was taken to the hospital in critical condition with over a dozen stab wounds, but is expected to make a full recovery.
Wadea’s father said the killing came as a shock, especially because Czuba had previously had such a good relationship with the family that he built the boy a treehouse and a playpen on his property.
“My ex-wife and son knew him, and they had a good relationship. It is hard to picture this man holding a knife about to stab my son,” Oday El-Fayoume told the Daily Beast.
The father said his son was “a small angel in the form of a person,” and the last thing he told his mother before passing away was “I’m fine.”
Wadea, who was born in the United States, was buried on Monday.
Czuba will remain behind bars until his next court date on October 30, a judge ruled Monday.
