A 31-year-old was charged by federal prosecutors on Wednesday with a hate crime and other offenses in the shooting deaths of two Israeli embassy staffers, accusing him of intentionally targeting them because of their country of origin.
Elias Rodriguez, already charged with murder in D.C., hit with nine-count federal indictment This involves crimes that result in death, first-degree murder and murder of a foreign official. Rodriguez could face the death penalty if he’s convicted.
Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26 were gunned down outside the Capital Jewish Museum on May 21. The two were exiting from an American Jewish Committee event for international diplomats and young professionals. Friends and family said the two were in a relationship — they were planning on get engaged.
Rodriguez was captured screaming “Free Palestine” as he was arrested, according to witnesses. He also told police, according to a criminal complaint: “I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza.”
According to the FBI affidavit, surveillance footage tells a disturbing story. Rodriguez allegedly shot about 20 times, then more when he approached the bodies. Milgrim tried to crawl before being shot again. He reloaded and fired more shots.
He left the gun behind entered the museum and was arrested there after raising his notoriety by waving a red keffiyeh scarf in one hand and confessing to the shooting on the other.
This was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, federal authorities say.
According to the indictment, Rodriguez had put up violent rants on social media before the blast such as: “vaporize every Israeli 18 and above.” He ended up having a prescheduled post that launched the night of the shooting on social media. He said anyone who took part in the Gaza military actions by Israel “had lost their humanity.
The day before the attack, Rodriguez flew to Washington from Chicago. They had spotted him pacing outside the museum just minutes before the shooting, which happened less than two miles from the White House.
The killings have been described by officials as an act of antisemitism. In May, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said the incident will be treated as a hate crime. Wednesday’s charges confirmed that direction.
Lischinsky and Milgrim was a source of tremendous immediate grief and outrage within Jewish circles in the United States, Israel, and around the world.
While Rodriguez is due in court Friday, a decision on the death penalty still looms, as prosecutors have yet to make their call.
To focus on the individual is to ignore the real story here. This case is a terrifying symptom of a much larger disease: the way the animosity from the Israel-Gaza conflict is metastasizing, infecting communities thousands of miles from the actual fighting.
Two families are left to mourn, and a justice system is preparing for what may be an explosive trial watched by those eager to see where the new stand your ground law will lead.
