Authorities charged the defendant with finishing up a hate crime, with the homicide of the embassy officers described as calculated and deliberate.
A person accused of shooting dead two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington, DC, has been indicted on federal hate crime and homicide prices, as President Donald Trump advised he might name on the Nationwide Guard to convey down crime charges in the US capital.
Court docket paperwork filed in federal court docket in Washington and unsealed on Wednesday present that defendant Elias Rodriguez has been charged with 9 counts, together with a hate crime leading to demise.
The 30-year-old is accused of shooting dead Israeli embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, a younger couple who had been about to change into engaged, as they left an occasion on the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington in Might.
Rodriguez, who witnesses described as pacing exterior the museum earlier than the assault, approached the couple and opened fireplace.
Surveillance footage then confirmed him advance on Lischinsky and Milgrim as they fell to the bottom, firing extra pictures as he stood over them. Rodriguez appeared to reload earlier than jogging off, in line with officers.
Two different individuals who had been standing with the couple on the time of the assault escaped unhurt.
Rodriguez then entered the museum and confessed to the killings. He was heard shouting “Free Palestine” as he was led away. Rodriguez additionally instructed police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza “, in line with federal authorities.
Prosecutors described the killings as calculated and deliberate in court docket papers, alleging that Rodriguez flew to Washington from Chicago with a handgun in his checked baggage. Authorities additionally claimed Rodriguez bought a ticket for the American Jewish Committee-organised occasion on the museum three hours earlier than it began.
Rodriguez was beforehand charged with the homicide of international officers and different crimes. Prosecutors added the hate crimes prices after bringing the case to a grand jury.
Additionally included within the indictment is a discover of particular findings permitting the Division of Justice to probably pursue the demise penalty.
Prosecutors are actually tasked with proving that Rodriguez was motivated by anti-Semitism when he opened fireplace on Lischinsky and Milgrim.
Lischinsky was a analysis assistant on the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, whereas Milgrim organised journeys to Israel for the embassy. Lischinsky, a German-Israeli citizen, had reportedly purchased an engagement ring days earlier than he and Milgrim, a Jewish US citizen, had been killed.
Additionally on Wednesday, President Trump mentioned he might deploy the Nationwide Guard to police Washington’s streets, telling reporters exterior the White Home that the capital is “very unsafe” and it “must be the best-run place within the nation”.
“We’re going to beautify town. We’re going to make it stunning. And what a disgrace, the speed of crime, the speed of muggings, killings and the whole lot else. We’re not going to let it,” Trump mentioned.
“And that features bringing within the Nationwide Guard, possibly in a short time, too,” he added.
Trump made his newest menace of a federal takeover of the US capital after a staffer who was a part of the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) was assaulted throughout a carjacking over the weekend.
In line with information on the police division’s web site, violent crime in Washington was down 26 % within the first seven months of 2025 in contrast with final yr, whereas total crime was down some 7 %.
