Texas woman accused of trying to drown 3-year-old Palestinian child
Euless, Texas - A woman in Texas stands accused of trying to drown a 3-year-old Palestinian-American girl in an alleged racist, Islamophobic attack.
Elizabeth Wolf (42) has been charged with attempted capital murder and injury to a child after trying to drown the girl in an apartment pool in Euless, Texas, on May 19, according to police.
The white woman allegedly approached a mother watching her two children in the shallow end of the pool.
Police said Wolf initially grabbed the 6-year-old son, but he jerked away. While the mother was trying to help her son, Wolf went for the 3-year-old daughter and began holding her underwater.
The Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a press release that the woman had approached the family asking racist and provocative questions. She reportedly grabbed the mother's hijab and tried to use it to beat her.
A Black American man helped to rescue the daughter.
Wolf, who was apparently drunk, was initially arrested for public intoxication.
"Tell her I will kill her, and I will kill her whole family," a bystander reported Wolf yelling as she was taken away in handcuffs.
Civil rights advocates seek hate crime investigation
CAIR is calling for the attack to be investigated as a possible hate crime as the family continues to face repercussions of the incident.
"We are American citizens, originally from Palestine, and I don’t know where to go to feel safe with my kids. My country is facing a war, and we are facing that hate here," the mother said in a statement after the attack.
"My daughter is traumatized; whenever I open the apartment door, she runs away and hides, telling me she is afraid the lady will come and immerse her head in the water again," she added.
"Also, my husband’s employment is jeopardized, due to having to leave work to accompany me and our four kids whenever we have appointments and errands to run."
Cover photo: IMAGO / Depositphotos