Texas: Woman Receives 5-Year Sentence for Attempt to Murder Muslim Child
The case unfolded on May 19, 2024, in Euless, where Elizabeth Wolf, then 42, was accused of targeting the child after making hostile remarks toward the girl’s mother.
The incident occurred at an apartment complex pool. Wolf was initially arrested on-site for public intoxication after police responded to a disturbance call.
According to authorities, Wolf asked the mother where she came from and made comments implying she was not American. She then grabbed the girl and forced her under water, even as the mother attended to the girl’s older sibling.
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Wolf later faced additional charges: attempted murder and injury to a child. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years for attempted murder and two years for injury to a child, with sentences to run concurrently.
Court records show she waived a jury trial and will receive credit for time already served. A grand jury in Tarrant County indicted her in September 2024, including a hate crime enhancement.
The sentence comes amid a broader pattern of anti-Muslim bias in the US, particularly since October 7, 2023.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other groups report elevated rates of Islamophobic incidents in recent months. For example, CAIR said 8,658 complaints of anti-Muslim or anti-Arab bias were recorded in 2024, marking the highest annual total since the group began tracking them in 1996.
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The case also recalls earlier violent targeting of Muslim children. In Illinois in October 2023, six-year-old Wadea al-Fayoume was fatally stabbed by his landlord in a hate crime.
Source: Agencies
