Suspect in killings of Israeli Embassy staffers indicted on federal hate crime charges
Elias Rodriguez is accused of gunning down Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim as they left an event at the museum in May. He was heard shouting 'Free Palestine' as he was led away after his arrest. He told police, 'I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,' federal authorities have said.
Lischinsky, a 30-year-old diplomat, was just days away from proposing to 26-year-old Milgrim, a colleague at the embassy who grew up in Kansas, before the killings.
The indictment, filed in federal court in Washington, charges Rodriguez with nine counts, including a hate crime resulting in death. The indictment also includes notice of special findings, which would allow the Justice Department to potentially pursue the death penalty.
Rodriguez had previously been charged with murder of foreign officials and other crimes and the hate crimes charges were added after prosecutors brought the case to a grand jury. It means prosecutors will be tasked with proving Rodriguez was motivated by antisemitism when he opened fire on Lischinsky and Milgrim.
Prosecutors have described the killings as calculated and planned, saying Rodriguez flew to the Washington region from Chicago ahead of the Capital Jewish Museum event with a handgun in his checked luggage. He purchased a ticket for the event about three hours before it started, authorities have said in court papers.
Witnesses described him pacing outside before approaching a group of four people and opening fire. 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.
After the shooting, authorities say Rodriguez went inside the museum and stated that he 'did it.'
'I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed,' he spontaneously said, according to court documents. He's also accused of telling detectives that he admired an active-duty Air Force member who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in February 2024, describing the man as 'courageous' and a 'martyr.'
The young couple had been together just over a year and a half and was due to travel to Israel, where Lischinsky was going to ask Milgrim to marry him.
He had already purchased the ring and was going to propose in Jerusalem, Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to Washington, said in May.
'Instead of walking you down the aisle, we are walking with you to your graves,' Israeli diplomat and spokesperson Tal Naim said in a post on social media. 'Just this morning, we were still laughing together by the coffee corner — and now, all that remains is a picture.'
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