The U.S. Muslim community was raging Monday after the horrific killing of a 6-year-old boy and stabbing her mother in an Islamophobic attack in Illinois.
The suspected killer, the Muslim family's landlord, was charged Sunday with murder and hate crimes that involved allegedly stabbing the woman and her 6-year-old boy dozens of times.
Police linked the anti-Muslim attack to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The child, who was stabbed 26 times, died at the hospital, but the 32-year-old woman, is expected to survive the "heinous" Saturday attack, according to a statement from the Will County sheriff's office in Illinois.
"Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis," said the statement, which located the killing about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Chicago.
The sheriff's office did not give further details or the victims' nationality, but the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) described the child as Palestinian-American.
It identified the boy as Wadea Al-Fayoume and said the woman, Hanaan Shahin, was his mother.
Authorities said the woman managed to call 911 as she fought off the landlord, named by the sheriff's office as 71-year-old, Joseph Czuba.
"He knocked on the door and attempted to choke her, and said, 'you Muslims' must die," Ahmed Rehab, head of CAIR's Chicago office, told reporters, citing text messages sent by the woman to the murdered boy's father from her hospital bed.
The attack was "our worst nightmare," CAIR said in a statement.
"The Islamophobic rhetoric and anti-Palestinian racism being spread by politicians, media outlets, and social media platforms must stop," CAIR said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Biden, in a statement late Sunday said, the "Palestinian Muslim family came to America seeking what we all seek – a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace."
"This horrific act of hate has no place in America, and stands against our fundamental values," added Biden, calling for Americans to "come together and reject Islamaphobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred," he added.
