More than 100 people gathered to celebrate Wadea’s life over mansaf, a rice and lamb dish known in Palestinian culture.
Wadea died Saturday after he was stabbed 26 times at his Plainfield home. The Will County Sheriff’s Office arrested and charged landlord Joseph Czuba, 71, alleging he targeted and stabbed Wadea and his mother because they were Muslim. Czuba's wife told investigators that Czuba had become obsessed with the war between Hamas and Israel, authorities said.
In a petition requesting that he be detained, prosecutors said that right before the attack, he confronted Shahin and "told her he was angry at her for what was going on" in Israel. Shahin “stated Czuba gave her no chance to do anything ... then attacked her with a knife.”
The sheriff’s office said Shahin ran into the bathroom and fought off her attacker as she called for help.
After the attack, Shahin asked her son whether he was OK. Wadea looked up at his mother and said, “I am fine, mama,” his final words before he passed away, Aly said.
Shahin came to the U.S. 12 years ago from the Palestinian territory of the West Bank. Wadea’s father came to the U.S. nine years ago, and Wadea was born in the U.S.
"I still didn’t believe my son is gone,” he said.
Neighbor Abdelbaset Emar, 53, said that Wadea befriended his son and that together they watched cartoons to help learn English.
“He would come over all the time,” Emar said as he left the dinner.
He added that both children played with action figures
Aly thinks back to the day Wadea was brought home from the hospital after he was born.
“I saw another angel come into Earth. I saw a baby who could fit in the palm of my hand,” Aly said.
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