Updated May 22, 2025 at 7:26 PM EDT
WASHINGTON — Federal authorities on Thursday charged Elias Rodriguez with first-degree murder, the murder of foreign officials and other crimes in the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy employees in Washington, D.C.
Rodriguez was arrested after gunfire erupted outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday night. The victims — Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26 — worked for the Israeli embassy and were a young couple about to be engaged, according to Israel's foreign ministry. The suspect faces both federal and local murder offenses.
At a press conference on Thursday, Jeanine Pirro, the interim U.S. Attorney in DC, said she plans to also investigate the attack as a hate crime and an act of terrorism.
"It's far too early to say whether that is the case, but this is a death penalty-eligible case," she added.
According to an FBI agent's affidavit obtained by NPR, Rodriguez allegedly told officers, "I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza" on the scene of the attack. He also allegedly chanted "free Palestine" after being detained by security, court documents read.
The affidavit also claimed the suspect held a red scarf, which one witness identified as a keffiyeh, a traditional headscarf closely associated with Palestinian history and resistance.
Many U.S. and Israeli officials identified the attacks as the latest in a marked rise of antisemitic incidents in recent years — and more notably, as Israel ramps up its offensive in Gaza, where the risk of famine looms for a population ground down by a months-long blockade.
In a joint statement, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and 40 other groups called for the federal government to ramp up security measures in response to the "rising level of anti-Jewish incitement." The AJC was behind the event the two victims were attending at the museum.
Here's what we know so far.
What happened?
Court documents say the suspect landed in the D.C. area the day before the shooting. Rodriguez appeared to have flown from Chicago for a conference related to his work, Steven Jensen, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington field office, said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, shortly after 9 p.m. ET, as an event for young diplomats hosted by the American Jewish Committee wrapped up at the Capital Jewish Museum in downtown D.C., a man was observed "pacing back and forth" outside the building, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith told reporters.
The man approached a group of four people, then opened fire, Smith said. Two people were killed — a man and woman who were a couple, officials said. Afterward, the shooter entered the museum and was detained by event security, Smith said.
Rodriguez did not have any prior known encounters with police, Smith said.
Court documents say, Rodriguez reportedly fired multiple rounds. After the victims collapsed, the suspect allegedly continued shooting at close range, including while one of the victims, Sarah Milgrim, tried to crawl away.
Law enforcement recovered 21 fired casings and a 9mm handgun, the affidavit added. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined that Rodriguez purchased the firearm in Illinois in 2020.
During an interview with detectives, Rodriguez said he purchased a ticket to the event at the Jewish museum about three hours before the event began, the affidavit said. The suspect also said he admired the man who immolated himself in front of the Israeli embassy in D.C. last year, calling him a "martyr," court documents say.
"The suspect chanted 'free, free Palestine' while in custody," Smith added. Police said they had tentatively identified the suspect as Rodriguez.
At a press briefing on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump was "saddened and outraged" by the attack. She added that the Justice Department plans to prosecute the perpetrator to "the fullest extent of the law."
"The evil of antisemitism must be eradicated from our society," Leavitt said.
In a statement, the Capital Jewish Museum's executive director Dr. Beatrice Gurwitz and its board of directors said they were heartbroken by the "act of horrific antisemitic violence."
"We are working to re-open the museum in the coming days, with all necessary security in place, so we can return to telling the story of Jewish Washington for thousands of visitors from around the world," the statement read.
Who were the victims?
26-year-old Sarah Milgrim was an American born in Kansas, and 30-year-old Yaron Lischinsky was originally from Germany but immigrated to Israel when he was 16, according to his LinkedIn profile. He held citizenship in both countries, according to both the Israeli and German governments.
Speaking to reporters, Israel's ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said the pair was about to become engaged. "The young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem," he said.
Ted Deutch, chief executive of the AJC, said "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."
Milgrim worked in the embassy's public diplomacy department, and Lischinsky was a researcher focused on the Middle East and North Africa region. On his LinkedIn profile, Lischinsky wrote that he was an "advocate for interfaith dialogue and intercultural understanding" between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
Milgrim grew up in Prairie Village, a suburb of Kansas City, and was a member of a reform synagogue nearby, B'nai Jehudah. In a statement, the temple called Milgrim "a devoted Zionist and a radiant presence in every space she entered."
"She stood for something larger than herself and she paid the ultimate price for it," the statement said, calling for unity in the community in response to the attack.
Sarah's father, Robert Milgrim, told member station KCUR that education is important to stop acts of violence like the ones that took his daughter's life. "There just needs to be something done to make people realize that we're many different people living in the U.S., but there's no reason to hate one another," he said. "This hate cannot divide us. We need to overcome it."
Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas posted on X about the attack, saying "People in our area know the pain of religious-based violence. We pray for its end." A Jewish community center in Overland Park was the site of a 2014 shooting that killed three people and was later deemed a hate crime by law enforcement.
In a post on X, Shoval Ronen said that he taught Lischinsky at the Argaman Institute in Jerusalem, saying he was "a Christian, a great lover of Israel, who immigrated to Israel, served in the army, and decided to dedicate his life to the State of Israel and Zionism."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he spoke with the parents of both victims, saying that he "shares in their great grief along with the entire people of Israel."
Who is the suspect?
The suspect has been identified as Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, Ill.
He was taken into custody shortly after the shooting and was being interviewed early Thursday by D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department as well as the FBI.
Rodriguez was born and raised in Chicago and resided in the northwest neighborhood of Albany Park, in an apartment on a quiet, leafy residential side street.
The windows of an apartment believed to be his were covered with political signs facing the street below. Some signs were for local politicians and causes, but several others addressed Israel's war in Gaza against Hamas. One called for a ceasefire, while another demanded "Free Palestine!" in handwritten letters and a third said "Justice for Wadea," referring to six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian-American who was stabbed to death in his home by his family's landlord shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
Rodriguez was an employee of the American Osteopathic Association. In a statement, the organization said it was "shocked and saddened" that an employee had been arrested as a suspect in the attack, and said it was fully cooperating with the investigation.
Jensen, with the FBI, called the shooting "a heinous crime." The agency is investigating "ties to potential terrorism or motivation based on a bias-based crime or a hate crime," he said.
NPR's Odette Yousef contributed to this report from Chicago, and NPR's Jennifer Ludden contributed from Washington. Shir David contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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