A Texas woman, Elizabeth Wolf, 42, has been charged with attempted capital murder in connection with a racially motivated attack on a three-year-old Palestinian-American girl. Wolf is accused of attempting to drown the child in an apartment pool in Euless, Texas. The indictment, issued Aug. 15, includes a hate crime enhancement, citing that Wolf chose the victims because they were “Muslim or people of Middle Eastern descent.”
According to police, Wolf was intoxicated when she approached the children’s mother at the pool and asked her where she was from and if her six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter were her children. Wolf allegedly made racist comments, questioned the mother’s nationality and made other offensive statements.
After the exchange, Wolf jumped into the pool and tried to grab the two children. The boy, with the help of his mother, managed to escape and suffered only a minor injury. However, Wolf forced the girl to submerge her head under water. The mother managed to free her daughter and the girl coughed up water while screaming for help.
Emergency services arrived at the scene and released both children. When Wolf was arrested, he allegedly threatened the family, shouting to a bystander: “Tell her I will kill her and I will kill her entire family.”
The mother later spoke about the traumatic impact the incident had on her daughter, saying: “My daughter is traumatised; every time I open the door to the apartment, she runs out and hides, telling me she is scared that the lady will come and dunk her head in the water again.”
The attack comes amid growing concern over violence against Muslim, Arab and Jewish Americans, with human rights advocates warning of escalating threats. The Daily Mail reported This incident follows similar hate crimes, including the fatal stabbing of a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy in Illinois, the February stabbing of a Palestinian-American man in Texas, and the shooting of three Palestinian-American students in Vermont in November.
Wolf now faces serious charges, including attempted capital murder and intentional injury to a child, with the added aggravation of hate crime. As the legal process unfolds, the case highlights ongoing concerns about racially motivated violence in the United States.
