Federal officials are reviewing writings that they say may be those of the man charged Thursday in the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., as they investigate whether the attack was motivated by antisemitism.
Washington police identified the suspect as Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago, who they say shouted “Free, free Palestine” in custody and “implied” that he was the gunman in the shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday night.
Yaron Lischinsky and his girlfriend and colleague Sarah Milgrim were killed.
Rodriguez appeared Thursday before a federal magistrate judge wearing a white prison jumpsuit and glasses. He remained calm as the charges were read: murder of foreign officials, causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, as well as two counts of first-degree murder.
He waived his detention hearing and is being held without bond until his prelimin hearing June 18.
Federal agents said Rodriguez spoke with Washington police officers who arrived at the scene to tell them he “did it,” according to a criminal complaint. Rodriguez also said, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed,” the complaint said, adding that a witness said he was holding a red kaffiyeh scarf, which has become an emblem of Palestinian solidarity.
Rodriguez also “expressed admiration” for the U.S. Air Force member who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington in Febru 2024, apparently to protest the Israel-Hamas war, according to the complaint. That man, who had been yelling “Free Palestine,” died at the hospital.
Wednesday night’s shooting is being investigated as a hate crime and a crime of terror, interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro told reporters. It is a “death penalty-eligible case,” she said.
A witness told investigators that he heard gunshots Wednesday night and that when it stopped, he saw the gunman trying to shoot the weapon but that it didn’t fire, according to the complaint. The witness said he saw the gunman running away and motioning as if he was tossing a gun, which police found later.
Security video reviewed by police showed the gunman wearing a blue jacket with a hood and a large dark-colored backpack walking past where the two victims were standing near the museum. After he passed them, he took a firearm from his waistband and fired at them “several times,” and once they fell to the ground, he leaned over to them and fired “several more times,” according to the complaint.
A female victim tried to crawl away, but the gunman followed her and fired his weapon, the complaint said, as he reloaded and then fired several times again.
Forensics investigators recovered 21 expended 9 mm cartridge casings, a firearm magazine, an empty magazine and a 9 mm handgun with its slide locked, indicating that no ammunition was remaining, according to the complaint.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives traced the 9 mm handgun and found that Rodriguez bought it on March 6, 2020, in Illinois, the complaint added.
Investigators say Rodriguez flew from Chicago to metropolitan Washington on Tuesday with a firearm he had declared in his checked luggage. He told them he bought a ticket to the museum event only three hours before it started, according to the complaint.
Outside a brick apartment building on a quiet tree-lined street in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago early Thursday, law enforcement officers cordoned off an address tied to the suspect by public records.
Several FBI vehicles pulled up to the building, and agents dressed in camo gear and carrying large firearms went inside. They later left with what looked like large electronic equipment. Chicago police were positioned outside, blocking the entrance to the street.
John Wayne Fry, a neighbor, said he interacted with Rodriguez infrequently in the hallway or by the mailboxes but knew him for having a “Justice for Wadee” sign in his window. Wadee Alfayoumi was a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy who was fatally stabbed by his landlord in Illinois days after the Israel-Hamas war erupted in 2023.
Rodriguez “seemed like a normal, friendly guy,” Fry said, adding that the two had not spoken about Israel before but that he wished they had, because “I would have talked him out of it.”
Efforts to reach Rodriguez’s family in Chicago were not successful.
Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino wrote Thursday on X that the bureau “is aware of certain writings allegedly authored by the suspect, and we hope to have updates as to the authenticity very soon.”
The writings include social media posts that indicate a motivation to act on behalf of the Palestinian people, authorities said.
A LinkedIn account for the suspect shows he worked for the American Osteopathic Information Association as a “profiles administrative specialist” beginning in July. The organization confirmed that he was an employee.
“As a physician organization dedicated to protecting the health and sanctity of human life, we believe in the rights of all persons to live safely without fear of violence,” the association said.
Rodriguez also listed having worked as a coordinator and an oral history researcher from 2023 to 2024 for The HistoryMakers, a nonprofit organization in Chicago that collects video oral history of Black Americans.
An archive of the website says Rodriguez is a Chicago native who earned an English degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and had worked as a content writer in technology.
Politicians, both prominent Republicans and Democrats, have condemned the shooting, which killed Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26. The couple were killed outside after they attended a Young Diplomats reception at the museum organized by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group.
Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, wrote on X that Lischinsky “was a Christian, a true lover of Israel, served in the IDF, and chose to dedicate his life to the State of Israel and the Zionist cause.” The IDF is the Israel Defense Forces.
The New York Times reported he was the son of a Jewish father and a Christian mother.
Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, said Lischinsky was planning to propose to Milgrim.
President Donald Trump wrote on social media that the attack was “based obviously on antisemitism,” while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is Jewish, called it “another horrific instance of antisemitism which as we know is all too rampant in our society.”
