A white woman in Texas has been arrested and charged for allegedly attempting to drown a 3-year-old girl at a pool and making racist remarks towards her mother, with investigators asking for the case to be treated as a hate crime.
A woman is accused of attempting to drown a 3-year-old Muslim child in possible hate crime incident https://t.co/Vw9ue56xmo
— CTV News (@CTVNews) June 23, 2024
42-year-old Elizabeth Wolf was charged with attempted capital murder and injury to a child after she tried to drown a 3-year-old girl at an apartment complex pool in suburban Dallas, Texas, and made racial remarks towards her mother.
The mother of the victim, who wears a hijab and identifies as a Muslim, said in a news release from the Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) that they are American citizens who originally came from Palestine.
Neither CAIR nor local authorities released the name of the mother or the child. Still, the Muslim advocacy group called on state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate the incident “as a hate crime and take all precautions to keep the Muslim family and the Muslim community safe.”
The incident began on May 19th after Euless Police Department officers responded to an apartment complex pool call involving two women. Witnesses told police officers that “a woman who was very intoxicated had tried to drown a child and argued with the child’s mother,” referring to Elizabeth Wolf.
Police officers then approached Wolf as she tried to leave the area and was placed under arrest for public intoxication. As police were handcuffing Wolf, she allegedly shouted at a witness near the mother, saying, “Tell her I will kill her, and I will kill her whole family.”
The victim’s mother told police Wolf was questioning where she was from and if the children playing in the pool were hers, according to a news release by the police. The mother, according to the council, was visibly Muslim and wore a hijab and modest swimwear. Police also said Wolf started to make statements about the mother not being an American and also made other racist statements.
Wonder if she would say she is 'pro-life'.
— "Convicted Felon" Brandon Perry (@BrandonPrry) June 25, 2024
“When the mother answered her, she stated that Wolf tried to grab her 6-year-old son, but he pulled away from her grasp, which caused a scratch on his finger. The mother began helping her son when Wolf grabbed her 3-year-old daughter and forced her underwater,” the news release from the police said.
The mother was able to pull her daughter out of the water, but she “had been yelling for help and coughing up water.” The council also said that an African-American man helped rescue the victim from the attacker as more people gathered and witnessed what happened. Euless medics medically cleared both children.
“We are American citizens, originally from Palestine, and I don’t know where to go to feel safe with my kids,” The Council on American-Islamic Relations quoted the mother, identified only as Mrs. H, as saying. “My country is facing a war, and we are facing that hate here. 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.”
Not that it matters she’s Hispanic you lying fuck. That’s all you people know how to do. Pussy.
— Cap’n Batsem (@CaptainBatsem) June 24, 2024
The Euless Police Department also confirmed that Wolf posted bail out of Tarrant County Jail with Capt. Brenda Alvarado of the Euless Police Department said that “the bond for the Attempted Capital Murder charge was $25,000. The bond for the Injury to a Child charge was $15,000.”
Capt. Alvarado has also requested prosecutors at Tarrant County to treat the case as a hate crime. A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said they are reviewing it.
Texas Representative Salman Bhojani condemned the attack and said he was “shocked and appalled by this alleged racist, Islamophobic occurrence that took place in my town.”
“Hate has no place in Euless, District 92, or anywhere in our great state. I want to thank Euless PD for quickly apprehending the alleged provocateur, and I extend my service to the affected family.” Bhojani said.
