Elias Rodriguez, the man accused of killing two Israeli Embassy staffers Wednesday night outside a Jewish museum in Washington, made his first court appearance this week, where a picture of the criminal case against him so far began to come into focus.
The killings of Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, a young couple who worked for the embassy, have already roiled the nation’s capital as new details continue to emerge.
Here’s what we know about where the criminal case stands.
The charges
Police say Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago, shot and killed the embassy staffers as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum shortly after 9 p.m.
He walked past Lischinsky, Milgrim and two witnesses before turning to face their backs and firing several times at the couple, surveillance footage showed, according to an FBI affidavit. Once they fell to the ground, Rodriquez was captured on video approaching them and firing several more times, including as Milgrim attempted to crawl away, the affidavit said.
Investigators recovered 21 spent shell casings at the scene and a 9mm handgun.
Then, Rodriguez jogged back toward the museum, where he identified himself as the shooter and was apprehended. After his arrest, he shouted “free, free Palestine,” police officials said.
Rodriguez faces five charges, a mix of federal and local offenses: murder of foreign officials, causing death through the use of a firearm, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of first-degree murder.
A public defender, Elizabeth Mullin, was appointed to represent him, and he has not yet entered a plea. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 18.
Jeffrey Nestler, a veteran of the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C., is prosecuting the case. He handled the seditious conspiracy trial of the Oath Keepers and other high-profile Jan. 6 cases.
Possible penalties
At Rodriguez’s initial court appearance Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh informed the alleged shooter that two of the counts against him — murder of foreign officials and causing death through the use of a firearm — carry a possible sentence of death or life in prison.
Both counts are federal offenses. The Justice Department has not yet said whether it will seek the death penalty against Rodriguez, but on President Trump’s first day back in the White House, he signed an executive order directing the U.S. attorney general to pursue capital punishment for “all crimes of a severity demanding its use.”
In a statement following the hearing, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the Justice Department would secure the “most severe possible punishment.”
Rodriguez also faces two counts of first-degree murder under D.C. criminal code, which carries a minimum sentence of 30 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life.
The fifth charge, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, carries a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and must be served consecutively to any other sentence.
What witnesses saw
Several witnesses were identified and interviewed by D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) at the scene, the affidavit says.
One witness said he saw a man, later identified as Rodriguez, wearing a blue hooded raincoat and backpack, attempting to light a cigarette in the rain — behavior the witness found “strange,” drawing their attention.
That witness saw four people walking out of the museum and soon after heard gunshots. After the gunfire ceased, the witness looked again and saw Rodriguez make a throwing motion. Police found the firearm near where the witness observed the motion.
The witness at first said Rodriguez was the same person they observed during the shooting, but in a subsequent interview, said they were “70 percent certain” it was the same person, despite being “certain” the backpack and jacket were what the assailant was wearing.
What Rodriguez told law enforcement
When Rodriguez first identified himself to MPD officers, he stated that he “did it,” but was unarmed, the affidavit says. He told them he “did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” and was holding a red scarf identified by a witness as a keffiyeh.
Once detained, Rodriguez waived his Miranda rights and answered questions from MPD detectives.
In the interview, he “expressed admiration” for airman Aaron Bushnell, who on Feb. 25, 2024, self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington as a form of protest meant to draw attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the affidavit said. He described Bushnell’s actions as courageous and labeled him a “martyr.”
Rodriguez also told police he had purchased a ticket to the museum event approximately three hours before it began.
Public officials decry attack
The slayings drew sharp and immediate rebuke from U.S. and global leaders, with many claiming that hostility against Jewish people undergirded the attack.
Trump said on Truth Social that the killings were “based obviously on antisemitism,” while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths the “terrible price of anti-Semitism and wild incitement against the State of Israel.”
Following a report in the New York Post, a spokesperson for Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.) said in a statement that Rodriguez’s father, Eric, was the congressman’s guest during Trump’s joint speech to Congress earlier this year.
“But we don’t know his family. The Congressman has condemned these horrible antisemitic killings,” spokesperson Fabiola Rodriguez-Ciampoli said in a statement, pointing to earlier remarks by García excoriating the attack as a “horrible, senseless act of antisemitism.”
Jeanine Pirro, interim U.S. Attorney for D.C., denounced the attack as a “senseless act” and “intolerable.” Her office is leading the prosecution.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights division is also assisting with the prosecution, and its head, Harmeet Dhillon, said she would pursue every avenue to investigate the crime.
Steven Jensen, head of the FBI’s Washington field office, called the attack “targeted, antisemitic violence,” while MPD Chief of Police Pamela Smith said the department would increase its presence at religious institutions citywide.
