Federal prosecutors announced Friday they will pursue capital punishment against the suspect accused of gunning down two Israeli Embassy workers outside a Washington-area Jewish museum.
Elias Rodriguez is charged with federal hate crime and murder violations in the deaths of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, who were leaving a museum event last May when they were shot. According to the indictment, Rodriguez yelled “Free Palestine” during the attack and later declared to officers, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza.”
Rodriguez faces hate crime charges that carry the possibility of execution. The indictment contains special findings that enable federal prosecutors to pursue the death penalty.
“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,” said Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, during an unrelated press conference Friday where she disclosed the death penalty decision.
The hate crime allegations require prosecutors to demonstrate that antisemitism drove Rodriguez to open fire on Lischinsky and Milgrim, a young couple planning to get engaged. Milgrim held U.S. citizenship while Lischinsky was an Israeli citizen employed in America.
Federal prosecutors characterize the murders as premeditated, stating Rodriguez traveled by plane from Chicago to the Washington area before the May 21 gathering at the Capital Jewish Museum, bringing a firearm in his checked baggage.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing him walking back and forth outside before he approached four individuals and began shooting. Security footage captured Rodriguez moving toward Lischinsky and Milgrim after they collapsed, standing over them and firing more rounds. Officials said he appeared to reload his weapon before running away.
Following the attack, authorities say Rodriguez entered the museum and declared, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed,” based on court records. He also expressed admiration to investigators for an active-duty Air Force member who immolated himself outside the Israeli Embassy in February 2024, calling the man “courageous” and a “martyr.”
In Friday’s legal filing, prosecutors stated Rodriguez’s conduct was “motivated by political, ideological, national, and religious bias, contempt, and hatred.” They wrote that he “targeted individuals whom he perceived to have attended an event for young Jewish professionals, organized by the American Jewish Committee and hosted at the Capital Jewish Museum, to amplify the effect of his crimes.”
Defense lawyers for Rodriguez did not immediately return requests for comment. Prior to Friday’s announcement, his legal team met with Justice Department officials to present arguments against seeking capital punishment in the case.
Rodriguez is scheduled to appear in court again on June 30. No trial date has been established.
