Euless woman who allegedly tried to drown 3-year-old could be charged with hate crime
EULESS, Texas - Euless police are asking prosecutors to treat the attempted drowning of a child as a hate crime.
The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the incident that happened on May 19 at an apartment complex pool.
Witnesses said Elizabeth Wolf got into an argument with another woman and made racist remarks before grabbing the woman’s 3-year-old daughter and pulling her underwater.
Elizabeth Wolf
The mother and her family are Palestinians who are United States citizens.
The White House on Monday posted a message on social media regarding the incident.
"I am deeply disturbed by the reports of an attempted drowning of a 3-year-old Palestinian-American at a neighborhood pool," President Joe Biden said. "No child should ever be subjected to a violent attack, and my heart goes out to the family."
"It has all the elements of a hate crime," said Mustafaa Carroll, the head of the Texas chapter of the Council on Islamic American Relations or CAIR.
The organization held a news conference this past Saturday calling for the alleged attempted drowning to be treated as a hate crime.
Euless woman allegedly made racist statements before attempting to drown 3-year-old, police say
Euless police say 42-year-old Elizabeth Wolf came up to a mother wearing a hijab, made racist comments and attempted to drown her child.
State Rep. Salman Bhojani, whose district includes parts of Euless, was on hand to support CAIR’s position.
"Hate against one community is hate against all of us. And we can’t sit around and let crimes like these become the norm in our great state of Texas," he said.
Wolf bonded out of jail after her arrest for attempted capital murder.
It will be up to Tarrant County prosecutors to decide whether she will also face a hate crime charge.
It’s unclear if she also lived at the apartment complex.