A white Texas woman has been arrested after she allegedly attempted to drown a Palestinian toddler in a community pool after attacking the child’s mother with racist abuse.
Elizabeth Wolf, 42, was charged with attempted capital murder and injury to a child on May 19 by the Euless Police Department.
The accused reportedly approached a hijab-wearing Muslim woman identified as Mrs. H at an apartment complex pool and began making racist comments.
Officials said that Wolf also began demanding to know where Mrs. H’s family was from and if the two children in the pool were hers.
After a few minutes, the accused allegedly jumped into the pool and began to pull Mrs. H’s six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter to the deeper end.
‘Wolf tried to grab (the mother’s) six-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 three-year-old daughter and forced her underwater. The mother was able to pull her daughter from the water.
‘Her daughter had been yelling for help and was coughing up water,’ Euless police said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations explained that an African American man helped rescue the young girl from the attacker as more people gathered and witnessed what had happened.
CAIR later confirmed that the children are now safe but severely traumatized.
As Wolf was being handcuffed by police, she allegedly shouted to a witness who was with Mrs. H, ‘Tell her I will kill her and I will kill her whole family,’ the agency reported.
Mrs. H also told CAIR that Wolf had allegedly snatched her hijab off her head and began beating and kicking her, preventing her from reaching her daughter as the suspect held her head under water.
In a statement, the distressed mother said: ‘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.
‘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.
‘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.’
The Euless Police Department later said that Wolf had posted bail out of Tarrant County Jail.
‘The bond for the Attempted Capital Murder charge was $25,000. The bond for the Injury to a Child charge was $15,000,’ Captain Brenda Alvarado said.
A GoFundMe had also been launched to help the family – which has now raised nearly $5,000 more than its original $10,000 goal.