Landlord jailed for decades in hate-crime attack on Palestinian American family has died

A landlord who was jailed for decades after he attacked a Palestinian American boy and his mother has died. Joseph Czuba was jailed three months ago for 53 years behind bars. He was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of the boy’s mother, Hanan Shaheen. He died July 24 while in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, citing the Will County Sheriff’s Office. The 73-year-old Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas, which started days earlier.