JOLIET, Ill. — An Illinois man was found guilty Friday in the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and the wounding of his mother, an attack that prosecutors said was motivated by anti-Muslim hate, just days after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.

Joseph Czuba stabbed the child 26 times in October 2023, a week after the Israel-Gaza conflict began. A jury convicted him on murder, hate crimes and other charges.

A Will County jury has convicted a Plainfield, Illinois, landlord on all counts in the hate crime murder of a 6-year-old Palestinian boy, and the stabbing of the boy's mother. Jurors deliberated little more than an hour before convicting Joseph Czuba of one count of first-degree murder,

An Illinois landlord was found guilty on all counts in a murder and hate crime trial. He was accused of fatally stabbing a Palestinian American boy and attacking his mother, who survived. NBC News’ Maggie Vespa has the latest from the courthouse where the jury returned after one hour of deliberating.

A jury found an Illinois landlord guilty of murder and hate crime charges Friday for the brutal killing of a 6-year-old whose mother rented rooms in the man’s home, an attack that spiked fears over anti-Muslim discrimination in the earliest days of the war in Gaza.