D.C. federal prosecutors on Wednesday filed federal hate crime and murder charges against the man accused of gunning down two Israeli Embassy staffers this spring, giving the Justice Department the option to pursue the death penalty in the case.
The newly unsealed indictment lays out the alleged digital footprint of Elias Rodriguez’s antisemitic views that prosecutors say fueled the deadly shooting of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah MilgrIm, a young couple who were days away from being engaged in Jerusalem.
The court documents also include a “notice of special findings” that includes the potential for Mr. Rodriguez, 31, to receive the death penalty.
Surveillance video showed Rodriguez advancing closer to Lischinsky and Milgrim as they fell to the ground, leaning over them and firing additional shots. He appeared to reload before jogging off, officials have said.
The defendant is accused of flying from Chicago to the District with his legally owned pistol to carry out the May 21 attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum.
The new indictment said Mr. Rodriguez shouted “Free Palestine” when he shot the couple dead as they left the venue, according to court documents.
Surveillance video allegedly captured Mr. Rodriguez standing over the victims and firing more shots into the couple after he initially downed them.
The filing said he then went inside the museum and claimed he killed the pair “for Gaza” and “for Palestine” while brandishing a red keffiyeh, a traditional Arabic scarf often associated with anti-Israel activists.
Mr. Rodriguez continued to shout “Free Palestine” during his arrest, the indictment said, and made statements about “intifada” and “revolution” as well. He also yelled “shame on you” at event attendees inside the museum and “shame on Zio-nazi terror.”
Old social media posts cited in court documents include a 2024 post that said “Happy New Year, Death To Israel.”
Another post from that same year allegedly showed Mr. Rodriguez responding to a video of Israelis discussing Gaza and called it “Zionist incitement to genocide.”
“What more evidence is needed that the colony and its recalcitrants will have to be totally extirpated by the end of all this,” the defendant allegedly commented about the same video.
Prosecutors seemed to verify that a manifesto titled “Explication” did come from Mr. Rodriguez.
The manifesto discussed topics such as the “morality of armed demonstration” and how those who advocate for the Palestinians “take satisfaction in arguing that the perpetrators and abettors have forfeited their humanity.”
“I am glad that today at least there are many Americans for which the [armed] action will be highly legible and, in some funny way, the only sane thing to do,” the manifesto reads.
Mr. Rodriguez has remained behind bars since he was arrested. He faces first-degree murder charges, murder of a foreign official in the killing of Lischinsky, and assault and weapons charges, as well as the new charge of a hate crime resulting in death.
The slayings were sandwiched between an antisemitic attack against Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in April and the deadly firebombing of a pro-Israel march in Colorado in June.
