US attorney general says office seeking death penalty for man accused of killing Israeli embassy staffers

17 January 2026, 8:12 am

Edit

Left: Yaron Lischinsky and his partner Sarah Milgrim, employees of the Israeli Embassy in the US, killed in a shooting in Washington, DC, on May 21, 2025, in an undated photo. (Israeli Embassy, Washington); Right: The suspect in the shooting, Elias Rodriguez, shouts 'Free Palestine' as he is arrested. (Screenshot: X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

The US Justice Department will seek the death penalty for a man charged with killing two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, last year, Attorney General Pam Bondi tells a pro-Israel group.

Elias Rodriguez is accused of fatally shooting Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, on May 21 as they were leaving an American Jewish Committee event for young professionals and diplomats at the Capital Jewish Museum. The couple was about to get engaged to be married.

“Sarah and Yaron were shot, murdered because they were Jewish,” Bondi tells the Israeli American Council Summit in Florida, according to the Miami Herald.

“It was horrible. Horrible. We will not tolerate that in our country any longer.”