A man in the US is said to have killed a six-year-old boy because of his Muslim faith. The 71-year-old man stabbed the boy 26 times with the knife and seriously injured his mother, local police said today.
According to police, the act was a reaction to the war between the Palestinian Islamic organization Hamas and Israel. The incident occurred on Saturday in Plainfield, a suburb of Chicago.
The man is now expected to be charged with hate crimes, among other things. “Investigators were able to determine that both victims of this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect because they are Muslims and because of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East between Hamas and the Israelis.”
Biden condemns “brutal murder”
US President Joe Biden wrote on Twitter (X) that he and his wife Jill were shocked to learn of the “brutal murder of a child and the attempted murder of the child’s mother.” He expressed his condolences to the family. “This act of hate against a Palestinian Muslim family has no place in America.”
Ahmed Rehab, of the Muslim organization Council on American-Islamic Relations in Chicago, said the suspect was the owner of the two victims and knocked on the apartment door. The mother then opened it. The rehabilitation cited text messages that the mother allegedly sent to the boy’s father.