The suspect accused of murdering two Israeli Embassy staffers was indicted on hate crime charges, with the Department of Justice pursuing the death penalty.
Elias Rodriguez was accused of murdering Israeli Embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim as they exited the Jewish Capital Museum, days before they were set to be engaged, on May 21. He was indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday on charges of premeditated murder and hate crimes resulting in death, meaning the DOJ was able to convince the grand jury that Rodriguez was primarily motivated by antisemitism rather than anti-Israel sentiment.
According to prosecutors, Rodriguez was seen on surveillance footage approaching and then firing at Lischinsky and Milgrim, firing at them again after they had fallen to the ground.
Prosecutors said how Rodriguez murdered Milgrim was “especially heinous, cruel and depraved” due to her being killed while “particularly vulnerable due to infirmity.” The embassy staffer attempted to crawl away after the first hail of bullets, after which Rodriguez “followed behind her and fired again.” He reloaded his firearm as Milgrim began to sit up, shooting her again.
If the trial jury convicts Rodriguez, prosecutors will then have to prove that capital punishment is warranted, CNN reported. If successful, it will be the first death sentence handed down in Washington, D.C., in decades.
The indictment outlined violent rhetoric used by Rodriguez before his alleged crime, including a May 2024 message over social media that said, “Please please please god please vaporize every Israeli 18 and above so these kids have some chance at being human.”
On Oct. 14, he captioned a video of Israelis talking about Gaza, saying, “What more evidence is needed that the colony and its recalcitrants will have to be totally extirpated by the end of this?”
After allegedly murdering Milgrim and Lischinsky, Rodriguez yelled several pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans, saying he “did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza.”
The main hurdle the prosecution faces is convincing the jury that he was primarily motivated not by opposition to Israel, the country, but by religious bigotry.
In a manifesto obtained by a left-wing blogger shortly after the killings, Rodriguez said Israel is a “genocidal apartheid state” and suggested that nonviolent protests weren’t effective. He voiced admiration for airman Aaron Bushnell, who self-immolated outside of the Israeli Embassy last year and cited a man who attempted to throw former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara off a ferry in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, in 1972 as inspiration.
Rodriguez said his “armed demonstration” was justified and hoped the public would sympathize with him.
He was linked to the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist group that advocates overthrowing capitalism and implementing socialism. He was featured in an Oct. 25, 2017, article for Liberation, the PSL’s newspaper, titled “Chicago Demands Justice for Laquan, Not Money for Amazon.”
ELIAS RODRIGUEZ HIT WITH FEDERAL CHARGES IN MURDER OF ISRAELI EMBASSY STAFFERS
President Donald Trump expressed his sorrow and anger over May’s killing.
“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA. Condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things as this can happen! God Bless You ALL!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.