Mother of 6-year-old killed in alleged anti-Muslim attack near Chicago released from hospital after being stabbed over a dozen times
By Chris Boyette, CNN
(CNN) — A Chicago-area woman who was stabbed multiple times in an alleged anti-Muslim attack that left her 6-year-old son dead last week has been released from the hospital, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Chicago office.
Hanaan Shahin, 32, lived with her son, Wadea Al Fayoume, in a rented house in Plainfield Township, Illinois, for two years before their landlord brutally attacked them on October 14, according to the Will County Sheriff’s Office.
The family was “targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis, the sheriff’s office said.
Shahin told police she was able to get away by locking herself in the nearby bathroom, but was not able to get her son. While in there, she called police, according to a court filing. Shahin was rushed to the hospital with more than a dozen stab wounds, the sheriff’s office said.
Wadea, who was stabbed 26 times, did not survive, according to authorities. Shahin could not attend his funeral services Monday as she remained in the hospital, CAIR said.
It is unclear exactly when Shahin was discharged from the hospital, where she is now or how she is doing. CNN has reached out to CAIR Chicago and the sheriff’s office for more information.
Joseph M. Czuba, the 71-year-old suspect, has been charged with murder and hate crimes, among other charges. The Department of Justice is investigating the attack as a hate crime. Czuba’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for October 30.
“This incident cannot help but further raise the fears of Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian communities in our country with regard to hate-fueled violence,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement last week.
The attack on the family occurred as thousands of civilians, including children, have been killed in Israel and Gaza after Hamas militants launched attacks in Israel on October 7, causing Israel to respond with airstrikes over Gaza.
Shahin is from a village in the West Bank, according to Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Chicago.
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CNN’s Holly Yan, Brad Parks, Lauren Mascarenhas and Virginia Langmaid contributed to this report.
