A 42-year-old woman in Euless, Texas, has been arrested after she allegedly tried to drown a three-year-old Palestinian girl in an apartment complex pool.
Elizabeth Wolf was charged with attempted capital murder and injury to a child, according to a Euless Police Department.
The incident occured on May 19, when Euless police officers responded to a call about a disturbance between two women at an apartment complex pool at approximately 5:45 pm.
“Upon arrival, officers were told by witnesses that a woman who was very intoxicated had tried to drown a child and argued with the child’s mother,” police said.
According to Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the child’s mother wore a hijab and modest swimwear, and she was watching her children play in the shallow end of the pool when Wolf approached her.
“The alleged attacker reportedly approached the mother with racist interrogations, then jumped into the swimming pool and grabbed the children to the deep end of the pool to allegedly drown them,” CAIR said in a statement.
The boy managed to escape, but Wolf allegedly tried to force the 3-year-old underwater.
CAIR claimed that Wolf allegedly snatched off the mother’s head scarf and used it to beat the mother as well as kicking her to keep her away while forcing her daughter’s head underwater.
Both children underwent an evaluation and were medically cleared, according to police.
CAIR has urged state and federal authorities to investigate the incident as a hate crime.
“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,” CAIR quoted the child’s mother, who referred to as “Mrs H,” as saying.
“My daughter is traumatised; 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.”
“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.”
Mustafaa Carroll, the executive director of the Texas chapter of CAIR, said the attack occurred after Wolf made racist comments to the girl’s mother, who was wearing a hijab, an Islamic head covering.
“CAIR-Texas… calls upon state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate an allegedly biased, motivated murder attempt targeting Muslim children in Euless, Texas, as a hate crime, and to take all precautions to keep the family safe and the Muslim community safe,” Carroll said at a news conference on Saturday, June 22.
In a statement, CAIR-Austin Operations Manager, Shaimaa Zayan, expressed her disappointment after learning that Wolf was bonded out of jail the day after her arrest.
“We ask for hate-crime probe, a higher bail bond, and an open conversation with officials to address this alarming increase in Islamophobia, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian sentiment,” she said.
State Rep. Salman Bhojani, a Democrat representing the Texas House, expressed shock and appallage over an alleged racist incident.
“Hate has no place in Euless, District 92, or anywhere in our great state,” he added.
Earlier this year, CAIR published a report stating that it received 8,061 complaints about anti-Muslim incidents in the US in 2023, citing the escalating violence in Israel and Gaza as a significant factor.