The suspect accused of gunning down two Israeli embassy staff members outside a Jewish museum in Washington DC has been charged with first-degree murder, as well as murder of foreign officials and related firearm charges.
Wednesday night’s attack is being investigated as a hate crime, and more charges are expected, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said at a news conference.
“This is a death penalty-eligible case,” she said on Thursday, adding that it is too early to say whether prosecutors will decide to seek a death sentence.
Steve Jenson, from the FBI’s Washington DC field office, called the killings “an act of terror and directed violence against the Jewish community”.
Couple Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim were shot dead outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC around 21:08 local time (02:08 BST) on Wednesday, police said. The suspect opened fire on a group of four exiting the event, killing the two victims, police said.
Police identified the suspect as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago. He was arrested at the scene shortly after the shooting.
Officials said he was seen pacing outside the museum before opening fire. Eyewitnesses told the BBC he initially was mistaken for a traumatised bystander, and given aid inside the museum.
One witness, Yoni Kalin, said people inside had been “calming him down”. “Little did we know he was somebody that executed peo
Police said the suspect also shouted “free Palestine” before he was taken into custody.
The suspect landed in the Washington DC area one day earlier, Jenson said, and investigators are still piecing together his whereabouts before the attack. According to an affidavit, officials believe he flew on Tuesday from Chicago to Washington DC for a work conference.
Social media accounts linked to the suspect show he worked at the American Osteopathic Information Association (AOIA) in Chicago as an administrative specialist since 2024.
At his court hearing Thursday, the suspect was charged and ordered to remain in detention. His next hearing was scheduled for 18 June.
Israel’s ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter said shortly after the shooting that Mr Lischinsky planned to propose to Ms Milgrim during an upcoming trip they had planned to Jerusalem.
“They were a beautiful couple,” Leiter said at a news conference.
A vigil for Ms Milgrim was expected on Thursday in her hometown of Kansas City. She previously had spoken out about her fears of antisemitism in American public life. In 2017, she was interviewed by a local TV station after her school in Kansas was vandalised with a Nazi swastika.
“I worry about going to my synagogue, and now I have to worry about safety at school and that shouldn’t be a thing,” said Ms Milgrim, who was in her final year of high school at the time.
Police said the suspect was not on their radar and has no prior interactions with law enforcement. They said he admitted to the attack and is believed to have acted alone.
The gun used in the attack was a 9mm handgun legally purchased in Illinois in March 2020 and brought to Washington in his checked luggage. Illinois has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the US.
Social media accounts linked to the suspect also indicate that he was heavily involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement. Investigators said they were working to authenticate writings online purportedly authored by him, accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, criticising US policy and discussing the use of political violence.
A home linked to the suspect in Chicago was seen being searched on Thursday, and authorities also said they were scouring his electronic devices.
One of his neighbours in Chicago, John Wayne Fry, told reporters that he lived in the same apartment building as the suspect for around a year.
The suspect displayed a photo outside his flat of a Palestinian-American child who was killed in Chicago in 2023, Mr Fry said.
The man who killed six-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi was convicted of hate crime charges earlier this month. Officials said he was motivated by hatred for Islam and the conflict in Gaza.
It is unclear whether the suspect had any direct contact with the boy’s family.
Jojo Kalin, one of the event’s organisers in Washington DC, told the BBC that the event the victims attended was focused on how to build a coalition to help people suffering in Gaza amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
She added it is “deeply ironic that what we were discussing was bridge building and then we were all hit over the head with such hatred”.
The attack was condemned by world leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said he “thoroughly” condemns the “antisemitic attack” in Washington DC.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack “a heinous antisemitic murder” and added that security would be increased for Israeli representatives and diplomatic missions worldwide.
US President Donald Trump also decried antisemitism in response to the attack, writing on his social media platform Truth Social that “hatred and radicalism have no place in the USA.”
Trump and Netanyahu later spoke over the phone about the incident, where the US president expressed sorrow to his Israeli counterpart, according to a readout of the call.
By BBC News
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