A 71-year-old man from Illinois, accused of fatally stabbing a boy and severely injuring a lady due to their Islamic religion and the Israel-Hamas war, has been charged with a hate crime, authorities stated.

Both victims, a 32-year-old girl and 6-year-old boy, had been discovered with a number of stab wounds to their chest, torso and higher extremities, inside a residence within the unincorporated Plainfield Township outdoors of Chicago, the Will County Sheriff’s Office stated in a statement on social media.

The girl was transported to the hospital in critical situation, with over a dozen stab wounds to her physique, and is anticipated to outlive. The boy was pronounced lifeless on the hospital, the sheriff’s workplace stated. An post-mortem discovered the boy was stabbed 26 instances.

Deputies responding to the scene discovered the suspect, recognized as Joseph M. Czuba, sitting outdoors the residence with a lower on his brow. He was later taken to a neighborhood space hospital for remedy.

Authorities didn’t establish the victims. The Chicago workplace of the Council on American-Islamic Relations stated the victims had been a mom and son. The group stated the boy was Palestinian American.

The boy’s father appeared at a information convention hosted by the group on Sunday. The group stated the daddy had shared textual content messages with them from the mom describing the incident.

The mom and boy had been renting a ground in Czuba’s home for 2 years with none incident, the group stated.

On Saturday morning, Czuba knocked on their door. Once the mom opened it, “he tried to choke her and proceeded to attack her with a knife, yelling ‘you Muslims must die!’ When she ran into the bathroom to call 911, she came out to find that he had stabbed her six-year-old son to death,” the group said in a statement.

Czuba was charged with first-degree homicide, tried first-degree homicide, two counts of a hate crime, and aggravated battery with a lethal weapon.

“Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the on-going Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the sheriff workplace’s assertion learn.

Will County Sheriff’s Office didn’t instantly reply to NPR’s request for added info.

The suspect was taken to the Will County Adult Detention Facility and awaits a court docket look, the assertion added.

A day previous to the assault, FBI warned its regulation enforcement companions of an increase in terror threats within the U.S. as the Israel-Hamas war rages.

“In this heightened environment, there’s no question we’re seeing an increase in reported threats, and we’ve got to be on the lookout, especially for lone actors who may take inspiration from recent events to commit violence of their own,” Wray said, talking on the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference in San Diego on Sunday.

James Doubek contributed reporting.