Suspect in killing of Israeli Embassy staffers charged with hate crimes

US prosecutors have brought federal hate crime charges against the man accused of fatally shooting two Israeli Embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington, DC, in May.

The nine-count indictment returned against Elias Rodriguez, which makes him eligible for the death penalty if convicted, says that he targeted the victims for being Israeli. He is accused of carrying out a hate crime resulting in death motivated by the “actual and perceived national origin of any person.”

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.

The hate crimes charges against Rodriguez mean that prosecutors will now be tasked with proving he was motivated by antisemitism.

“We welcome these charges as an important step toward justice for the families of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim and the greater Jewish community,” the Anti-Defamation League said following the indictment. “May their memories always be for a blessing.”

The shooting was widely condemned as an antisemitic act, and was one of a string of attacks on Jews in the US earlier this year. In April, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence was firebombed. In June, a firebombing at a Boulder, Colorado, gathering in support of Israeli hostages held by terror groups in Gaza killed one person.

Rodriguez was previously charged with first-degree murder and murder of a foreign official, and the hate crimes charges were added after prosecutors brought the case to a federal grand jury. The indictment comes ahead of a scheduled court appearance in Rodriguez’s case on Friday.

The indictment alleges that Rodriguez had a history of violent rhetoric online against Israelis, including a plea to “vaporize every Israeli 18 and above.”

Before the shooting, he scheduled a social media post to publish later that night with a document arguing that perpetrators and abettors of Israel’s military actions in Gaza had “forfeited their humanity,” according to the indictment.

Prosecutors have described the killing as calculated and planned, saying Rodriguez flew to the Washington region from Chicago ahead of the AJC 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 footage showed Rodriguez firing about 20 rounds at Lischinsky and 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 and pulling out a red Palestinian-style keffiyeh scarf, the affidavit said.

He was heard shouting “Free Palestine” as he was led away after his arrest. Federal authorities said he told police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza.״