The Justice Department said it will pursue the death penalty against Elias Rodriguez, who federal prosecutors charged with killing two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington outside a Jewish museum last May.
Prosecutors said in a court filing Friday that Rodriguez faces federal hate crime and murder charges tied to the killings of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum. The filing said the indictment includes notice of “special findings,” which prosecutors said allows them to seek capital punishment.
Rodriguez faces allegations that he acted with bias, contempt, and hatred and that the hate crimes charges require prosecutors to prove antisemitic motivation when he opened fire on the couple, federal prosecutors said. Lischinsky, 30, was described in the filing as an Israeli citizen working in the U.S., and Milgrim, 26, was described as a U.S. citizen.
According to the indictment as prosecutors described it, Rodriguez shouted “Free Palestine” during the shooting and later told police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” while also saying, “I am unarmed.” Prosecutors also said the indictment describes Rodriguez as admiring an active-duty Air Force member who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in February 2024, describing that man as “courageous” and a “martyr.”
Prosecutors described the killings as calculated and planned. They said Rodriguez flew to the Washington region from Chicago ahead of the May 21 event at the museum with a handgun in his checked luggage.
Witnesses described Rodriguez pacing outside before approaching a group of four people and opening fire, prosecutors said. They added that surveillance video showed him moving closer to Lischinsky and Milgrim as they fell to the ground, leaning over them, and firing additional shots, and that he appeared to reload before jogging off, according to officials.
After the shooting, prosecutors said Rodriguez went inside the museum and told people, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed,” citing court documents. They also said Rodriguez told detectives he admired the individual who self-immolated outside the Israeli Embassy.
In announcing the Justice Department’s decision at an unrelated news conference Friday, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said: “My message to anyone who seeks to commit political violence in this district — D.C. is not the place. You will be held accountable and you will face the full wrath of the law,” according to the report.
Rodriguez’s defense attorneys did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment, the report said. Prosecutors said they have described the case as involving “political, ideological, national, and religious bias,” and they said Rodriguez “targeted individuals whom he perceived to have attended an event for young Jewish professionals … to amplify the effect of his crimes.”
The next court appearance for Rodriguez is set for June 30, and a trial date has not been scheduled, prosecutors said.