The incident happened on Sunday amid US politicians and media’s ceaseless rhetoric against Muslims over Israel’s war against the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Officials and Muslim rights activists said the man was charged with hate crimes for stabbing the Palestinian boy to death and wounding his mother, Reuters reported.
The man reportedly shouted, "You Muslims must die!"
"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," the Will County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) blamed the Islamophobic rhetoric by politicians and media for the crime.
AMK/Press TV