US justice department to seek death penalty for man charged with killing two Israeli embassy staffers

The US justice department will seek the death penalty for the man accused of fatally shooting two staff members of the Israeli embassy in Washington outside a Jewish museum, prosecutors said in a court filing on Friday.

Elias Rodriguez faces federal hate crime and murder charges in the killings of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim as they left an event at the museum last May. Rodriguez shouted “free Palestine” during the shooting and later told police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” according to his indictment.

The charges against Rodriguez include a hate crime resulting in death. The indictment also includes notice of special findings, which allows prosecutors to pursue the death penalty.

“My message to anyone who seeks to commit political violence in this district – DC is not the place. You will be held accountable and you will face the full wrath of the law,” Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia said at an unrelated news conference on Friday in which she revealed the justice department’s death penalty decision.

The hate crime charges mean prosecutors will have to prove that Rodriguez was motivated by antisemitism when he allegedly opened fire on Lischinsky and Milgrim, a young couple who were about to become engaged. Milgrim was a US citizen and Lischinsky was an Israeli citizen working in the US. The killings prompted bipartisan outrage from lawmakers in the country’s capital.

Prosecutors have described the killing as calculated and planned, saying Rodriguez flew to the Washington region from Chicago ahead of the 21 May 2025 event at the Capital Jewish Museum with a handgun in his checked luggage.

Witnesses described him pacing outside before approaching a group of four people and opening fire. Surveillance video showed Rodriguez advancing closer to Lischinsky and Milgrim as they fell to the ground, leaning over them and firing additional shots. He appeared to reload before jogging off, officials have said.

After the shooting, authorities say Rodriguez went inside the museum and said: “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed,” according to court documents. He also told detectives that he admired an active-duty air force member who set outside the Israeli embassy in February 2024, describing the man as “courageous” and a “martyr”.