The Father of a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy who was killed in a hate crime on October 14 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the man who killed him.

The young boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, was stabbed to death while his mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32, was severely injured in their home in Plainfield Township, a small town just outside Chicago.

Officials say the mother and son were targeted by their 71-year-old landlord Joseph Czuba because they were Palestinian and Muslim.

Investigators labeled the attack a hate crime, sharing that they believed the war in Israel influenced Czuba’s decision to attack the family. Czuba was arrested but has pleaded not guilty to murder and hate crime charges.

The boy’s father, Oday Al-Fayoume, filed the wrongful death lawsuit on November 21 in Will County. The complaint names Czuba, his wife Mary Czuba, and their property management company, Discerning Property Management, as defendants.

Under the Illinois Wrongful Death Act, a party can bring a wrongful death claim whenever “the death of a person shall be caused by wrongful act, neglect or default,” and had the action not caused the victim to die, the deceased would have otherwise been allowed to sue for damages personally.

When filing a wrongful death claim in Illinois, three elements must generally exist. They include a death; another person’s negligence caused the victim’s death; and the victim's surviving family members have suffered financial harm because of their loved one’s passing.

In the lawsuit, Al-Fayoume says that Czuba had informed his wife that he wanted Shahin and her son out of the property because he had feared her "Palestinian friends were going to harm them.” The lawsuit alleges that Mary Czuba and the management company “were indifferent and failed to recognize a threat and prevent serious bodily harm” to Shahin and her son.

Al-Fayoume's lawyer, Ben Crane, shared of the lawsuit, “Justice comes in many forms … and there is, obviously, unbelievable loss in Wadea, but his mother also was injured seriously, and we believe that there are avenues to recover compensation for what the family’s been through.”

Mary Czuba has since filed for divorce against her husband according to records. All named defendants have yet to secure legal representation according to reports.

Czuba is currently being held in Will County Jail while his criminal case plays out. The criminal indictment against him details that the young boy’s death was the result of “exceptionally brutal or heinous behavior.”

The boy's mother is continuing to recover from her injuries. In a statement she shared with the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, she asked the public to “pray for peace.”