Joseph Czuba, 73, who was found guilty on Friday, faces life in prison when he is sentenced in May for a murder that prosecutors said was prompted by anti-Muslim hatred, and also left the boy’s mother critically injured, as stated in court records. The murder of the boy, Wadee Alfayoumi, and the attack on his mother, Hanan Shaheen, was one of the earliest and worst hate crime incidents in the US since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Czuba, who was the landlord for Shaheen and her son, stabbed the boy 26 times using a military-style knife with a 7-inch (18-cm) serrated blade, authorities said. Shaheen suffered multiple stab wounds in the attack that occurred in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Chicago.