SEE: Palestinian-American boy fatally stabbed near Chicago had celebrated his 6th birthday just 8 days earlier

Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of the Chicago Office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago), said he is expecting the federal investigation to find the incident was a hate crime, just like the Will County Sheriff’s Office investigation.

“It shook the community to its core,” Rehab said. “This is a cold-blooded killer who attacked the most vulnerable victims possible: a woman and a child.”