Suspect in Israeli embassy staff shooting charged with murder
Elias Rodriguez, 31, is accused of opening fire on a group of people on Wednesday night as they left an event for young professionals and diplomats hosted by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that fights anti-Semitism and supports Israel.
Mr Rodriguez told police on the scene, "I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza," according to the charging documents.
Witnesses recounted hearing him chant, "Free Palestine" after he was taken into custody.
The two victims were identified as Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and 26-year-old Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, who were about to become engaged to be married.
After the shooting, Israeli embassies around the world immediately stepped up security.
In addition to two counts of first-degree murder, Mr Rodriguez was charged in a six-page criminal complaint with murder of foreign officials, causing death with a firearm and discharging a firearm in a crime of violence.
Interim US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, newly appointed by President Donald Trump as the top federal prosecutor in Washington, said at a news briefing the complaint against Mr Rodriguez constitutes a "death penalty-eligible case."
"We are going to continue to investigate this as a hate crime and as a crime of terrorism," Ms Pirro told reporters.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi said earlier that the suspect was believed to have acted alone.
At his first appearance in court yesterday, Mr Rodriguez waived his right to a detention hearing, and a preliminary hearing in the case was set for 18 June.
He said little during the proceeding except to answer, "I do" to questions from a federal magistrate judge about whether he understood his rights.
The charges were filed as FBI and police investigators pored over apparent writings and political affiliations of the suspect.
According to the FBI affidavit, the suspect flew to the Washington area from Chicago on Tuesday.
On Wednesday night, he was seen pacing outside the museum, little more than 2km from the White House, shortly before the shooting, police said.
Surveillance video footage showed Rodriguez firing several times at Mr Lischinsky and Ms Milgrim, then leaning over them to fire several more rounds after they fell to the ground and after Milgrim tried to crawl away and sat up, according to an FBI affidavit in the criminal complaint.
The gunman paused to reload, then resumed firing, it said.
He then tossed away his gun, retreated into the museum and was arrested there after calling attention to himself as the suspect, pulling out a red Palestinian-style keffiyeh scarf and declaring that he "did it," the affidavit said.
Investigators recovered a 9mm handgun that he had purchased in Illinois five years ago, 21 spent shell casings and a firearm magazine at the scene, according to the complaint.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino posted on social media that investigators were "aware of certain writings allegedly authored by the suspect" and hoped to soon have updates regarding their authenticity.
Mr Bongino's statement appeared to refer to a manifesto signed with Mr Rodriguez's name that was posted to an anonymous X account on Wednesday night shortly before the shooting.
Mr Rodriguez was once involved with a far-left group in Chicago, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, according to a post from the group on X. The group said Mr Rodriguez had a brief association with a PSL branch that ended in 2017 and was unaware of any further contact with him in more than seven years.
"We have nothing to do with this shooting and do not support it," the organisation said.
Mr Rodriguez was also identified in a 2018 local news report as a member of the Chicago branch of a national group called ANSWER, an acronym for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, which has organised demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinians.
At the time of his arrest, Mr Rodriguez worked at the healthcare non-profit American Osteopathic Information Association, the organisation confirmed in a statement expressing sympathy for the victims.
He had also worked as an oral history researcher at The History Makers, a non-profit dedicated to preserving African American stories, according to a now-deleted biography on the group's website, and was a content writer for technology firms.
Mr Rodriguez was born and raised in Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in English.
President Trump condemned the shooting.
"These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!" he said in a message on Truth Social. "Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his heart ached for the families of the victims, "whose lives were cut short in a moment by an abhorrent anti-Semitic murderer."
"We are witness to the terrible cost of the anti-Semitism and wild incitement against the State of Israel," he said on X, adding that both "must be fought to the utmost."
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