Politics
Chicago Man Charged With Murdering 2 Israeli Embassy Staffers in DC Told Police ‘I Did It for Palestine,’ Records Say
WASHINGTON (AP) — The man accused of fatally shooting two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington as they left an event at a Jewish museum told police after his arrest, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza," federal authorities said Thursday in announcing criminal charges.
Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago, shouted “Free Palestine” as he was led away after his arrest and told police that he was the one who “did it,” according to charging documents that provided chilling new details of a Wednesday night attack that killed an American woman and Israeli man who were set to become engaged.
Authorities described the slayings as a targeted act of terror.
Rodriguez faces charges of murder of foreign officials and other crimes. Additional charges are likely, prosecutors said Thursday, as authorities continue to investigate the killings as both a hate crime against the Jewish community and terrorism.
“Violence against anyone, based on their religion is an act of cowardice. It is not an act of a hero,” said Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. “Antisemitism will not be tolerated, especially in the nation’s capital.”
Court documents made public Thursday say the shooting was captured on surveillance video outside the museum, which authorities say showed Rodriguez firing at the victims several more times after they fell to the ground.
After he was arrested, Rodriguez told detectives that he admired the man who set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in February 2024 and described the man as “courageous” and a “martyr,” court documents say.
Rodriguez also told detectives that he purchased tickets to the event at the museum about three hours before it started, according to the court documents.
The two people killed, identified as Yaron Lischinsky, an Israeli citizen, and Sarah Milgrim, an American, were a young couple about to be engaged, according to Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. He said Lischinsky had purchased a ring this week with the intent to propose next week in Jerusalem.
The stunning attack on Wednesday evening prompted Israeli missions to beef up their security and lower their flags to half-staff. It came as Israel has launched another major offensive in the Gaza Strip in a war with Hamas that has heightened tensions across the Middle East and internationally and as antisemitic acts are on the rise.
Lischinsky told others at an event he attended before he was killed that he was looking forward to returning to Israel to celebrate an upcoming Jewish holiday, said Ted Deutch, the chief executive of the American Jewish Committee, which had put on the reception.
FBI agents on Thursday morning conducted a search of a home believed to be connected to Rodriguez in the 4700 block of North Troy Street on Chicago’s Northwest Side.
FBI agents on Thursday search a home in the 4700 block of North Troy Street on Chicago's Northwest Side believed to be connected to the suspect in the Washington, D.C., shooting. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)
A spokesperson for the FBI’s Chicago Field Office on Thursday confirmed its agents are supporting the FBI’s Washington Field Office and conducting related “court-authorized law enforcement activity in the Chicago-area” in connection to the shooting.
John Wayne Fry, 71, lives in the same building as Rodriguez, whom he described as “a normal, friendly guy.”
“My interaction with Elias was infrequent,” Fry told reporters outside his home Thursday morning. “We would meet in the hallway or meet in the vestibule checking our mailbox. He was always friendly.”
According to Fry, Rodriguez kept a photo in his apartment window of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian boy who was fatally stabbed by his neighbor in a 2023 attack in suburban Plainfield Township. The photo included the caption “Justice for Wadea.”
Fry said he was “sad and disappointed” by news of the fatal shooting and the continuing deaths in Gaza. He said that if he’d had an opportunity to speak with Rodriguez about his plans, he “would have talked him out of it.”
“As you can see, I’m an old man, and I learned during the Vietnam War, you don’t stop wars with guns and bombs,” he said. “You stop wars by going to your neighbors, talking to your neighbors. And there’s something more powerful than a bullet, something more powerful than a bomb that’s called a vote. That is how you win wars.”
“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!” President Donald Trump posted on social media early Thursday. “Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who is Jewish, said he was “horrified to hear of the deadly shooting” and indicated that a member of his team was attending the event where the shooting occurred.
“While they are shaken up, they are thankfully safe,” Pritzker said in a statement. “MK and I are praying for the victims and their families and all of those affected by this tragedy. “Law enforcement has apprehended the suspected gunman, and although the investigation continues, make no mistake: this was an attack on the Jewish community.
Illinois U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider said he was “overwhelmed by emotions of grief,” at the killings, but said mourners must be “inspired by their spirit and their example.”
“We’re not surprised at what happened, but we’re not going to back down,” Schneider, who is Jewish, said at a press event outside the Jewish Museum on Thursday. “The resolve of all of us standing here, the resolve of every American Jew, the resolve around the world is that we will hold on to who we are with pride and defiance.”
Israel’s Reaction
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s office said Thursday he was shocked.
“We are witnessing the terrible price of antisemitism and wild incitement against Israel,” he said in a statement.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, led by former judge Jeanine Pirro, will prosecute the case.
It was not immediately clear whether Rodriguez had an attorney who could comment on his behalf. A telephone number listed in public records rang unanswered.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino wrote in a post on social media that “early indicators are that this is an act of targeted violence.”
Israel’s Campaign in Gaza
The influential pan-Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera aired on a loop what appeared to be mobile phone footage of the gunman, wearing a suit jacket and slacks, being pulled away after the shooting, his hands behind his back.
The war, ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 people and resulted in the abduction of some 250 hostages, has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced most of its population.
In the time since, Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza has killed more than 53,000 people, mostly women and children, according to local health authorities, whose count doesn’t differentiate between combatants and civilians. The fighting has displaced 90% of the territory’s roughly 2 million population, sparked a hunger crisis and obliterated vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape.
‘In Cold Blood’
The shooting followed the AJC’s annual Young Diplomats reception at the museum.
“Sarah and Yaron were stolen from us,” said Deutch, the AJC’s chief executive. “Moments before they were murdered, they were smiling, laughing and enjoying an event with colleagues and friends. We are in shock and heartbroken as we attempt to process this immense tragedy.”
He described Milgrim, from Overland Park, Kansas, as “warm and compassionate, committed to peace building and passionate about sustainability and people-to-people relations.“ He said Lischinsky was a staff member of the embassy’s political department who at the event told others that he was eager to return to Israel to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot with his family.
Yoni Kalin and Katie Kalisher were inside the museum when they heard gunshots, and a man came inside looking distressed. Kalin said people came to his aid and brought him water, thinking he needed help, without realizing he was the suspect. When police arrived, he pulled out a red keffiyeh, the Palestinian headscarf, and repeatedly yelled, “Free Palestine,’” Kalin said.
“This event was about humanitarian aid,” Kalin said. “How can we actually help both the people in Gaza and the people in Israel? How can we bring together Muslims and Jews and Christians to work together to actually help innocent people? And then here he is just murdering two people in cold blood.”
Last week, the Capital Jewish Museum was one of the local nonprofits in Washington awarded funding from a $500,000 grant program to increase its security. The museum’s leaders were concerned because it is a Jewish organization and due to its new LGBTQ exhibit, according to NBC4 Washington.
“We recognize that there are threats associated with this as well,” Executive Director Beatrice Gurwitz told the TV station. “And again, we want to ensure that our space is as welcoming and secure for everybody who comes here while we are exploring these stories.”
In response to the shooting, the museum said in a statement it is “deeply saddened and horrified by the senseless violence.”
Israeli diplomats have a history of being targeted by violence, both by state-backed assailants and Palestinian militants over the decades of the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict that grew out of the founding of Israel in 1948. The Palestinians seek Gaza and the West Bank for a future state, with east Jerusalem as its capital — lands Israel captured in the 1967 war. However, the peace process between the sides has been stalled for years.
Patty Wetli and Eunice Alpasan contributed to this report.
