A woman is accused of attempting to drown a 3-year-old Muslim child in possible hate crime incident

By Alaa Elassar, Camila Bernal and Sarah Moon, CNN

(CNN) — A woman in Texas has been charged with attempted capital murder and injury to a child after trying to drown a 3-year-old child at an apartment complex pool and making racist statements, according to police.

The Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations identified the family as Muslim and Palestinian and 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 organization said in a news release Friday.

On May 19, Euless Police Department officers responded to a call at an apartment complex pool regarding a disturbance between two women. Witnesses told officers “a woman who was very intoxicated had tried to drown a child and argued with the child’s mother,” police said in a news release.

The woman, identified as Elizabeth Wolf, 42, was approached by officers as she tried to leave and placed under arrest for public intoxication.

The victim’s mother told police Wolf was questioning where she was from and if the two children playing at the pool were hers, the release said. The mother was visibly Muslim and wore a hijab, or Islamic headscarf, and modest swimwear, according to the council.

Wolf also made statements about the mother not being an American and made other racist statements, according to police.

“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 said.

The mother was able to pull her daughter from the water but she “had been yelling for help and was coughing up water.”

Both children were medically cleared by the Euless Medics, according to the release.

“We are American citizens, originally from Palestine, and I don’t know where to go to feel safe with my kids,” the council 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.”

The Euless Police Department confirmed to CNN that Wolf 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,” Capt. Brenda Alvarado told CNN.

CNN has reached out to Wolf’s attorney for comment.

“We ask for a hate-crime probe, a higher bail bond, and an open conversation with officials to address this alarming increase in Islamophobia, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian sentiment,” Shaimaa Zayan, the council’s Austin operations manager, said in a statement.

Texas Rep. Salman Bhojani said he is “shocked and appalled by this alleged racist, Islamophobic occurrence that took place in my town,” according to the news release. “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.”

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