Woman accused of trying to drown girl, 3, charged with attempted murder; CAIR wants hate crime probe

Police in Euless charged a woman with attempted capital murder and injury to a child after witnesses said she allegedly tried to drown another woman's children at an apartment complex swimming pool last month.

Officers were called for a disturbance between two women at an apartment complex pool off State Highway 360 around 5:45 p.m. on Sunday, May 19, 2024.

Witnesses told responding officers a woman, who was very intoxicated, had tried to drown a child and argued with the child's mother, according to Euless police. Police said Elizabeth Wolf, 42, was arrested for public intoxication as she tried to leave.

A 32-year-old woman who told police Wolf questioned where she was from and if the two children playing in the pool were hers -- she said after she answered Wolf tried to grab her 6-year-old son, but he got away with a scratch on his finger and as she was helping her son, Wolf grabbed her 3-year-old daughter and forced her underwater.

The mother told police she was able to pull her daughter, who was yelling for help and coughing up water, from the pool. Euless medics evaluated both children on the scene and released them.

The mother of the two children told officers Wolf made racial statements about her not being an American, police also took statements from witnesses at the scene.

Euless police said Wolf was charged with attempted capital murder and injury to a child. The cases were accepted by the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office.

CAIR-TEXAS CALLS FOR INCIDENT TO BE PROSECUTED AS A HATE CRIME

The Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Texas) and state lawmakers held a news conference Saturday calling on state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate the incident in Euless as a hate crime.

"I’m shocked and appalled by this alleged racist, Islamophobic occurrence," said Rep. Salman Bhojani, a Democrat who represents Euless in the Texas State House.

CAIR-Texas said the mother of the children was wearing a hijab at the time and that Wolf snatched the Islamic head scarf off her head and tried to beat her with it as she tried to save her daughter.

Investigators also said that while Wolf was being arrested, she allegedly made racist statements about the Muslim family.

"The attacker reportedly shouted to a bystander woman who was calming the mother down, 'tell her I will kill her and I will kill her whole family,'” said Mustafaa Carroll, Executive Director of CAIR's DFW chapter.

Activists said that this alleged attack comes amid a rise in anti-Islamic hate.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said nationwide, the number of complaints of anti-Islamic discrimination they received in the last three months of 2023 was more than double the total for that time period in 2022.

"We are seeing a new level of bigotry here where a person deeply believes they get to decide, based on religion, spoken language, and country of origin, whose kids deserve to stay alive and whose don’t," said CAIR-Austin Operations Manager, Shaimaa Zayan in a news release. "I was devastated to know that the attacker got a bail bond out of jail the next day after the arrest. 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."

The mother said in a statement released by CAIR that her daughter is traumatized. "We are American citizens, originally from Palestine, and I don’t know where to go to feel safe with my kids," she said.

NBC 5 reached out to Wolf for a response to the charges against her, but she hasn’t answered our inquiries.

Activists are now pushing for this case to be handled as a hate crime, saying prosecutors need to send a message that alleged attacks like this one won’t go unpunished.

"Hate against one community is hate against all of us," Bhojani said. "And we can’t sit around and watch crimes like these become the norm in our great state of Texas."

NBC 5 reached out to the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office to ask if they planned to pursue hate crime charges in this case, we’re waiting to hear back.

Advocates have set up a GoFundMe to support the family victimized in this case, you can contribute to that campaign here.