WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Division will search the dying penalty for the person accused of fatally capturing two workers members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington outdoors a Jewish museum, prosecutors stated in a courtroom submitting Friday.
Elias Rodriguez faces federal hate crime and homicide prices within the killings of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim as they left an occasion on the museum final Could. Rodriguez shouted “Free Palestine” throughout the capturing and later instructed police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” based on his indictment.
The fees towards Rodriguez embody a hate crime leading to dying. The indictment additionally consists of discover of particular findings, which permits prosecutors to pursue the dying penalty.
“My message to anybody who seeks to commit political violence on this district ― D.C. is just not the place. You’ll be held accountable and you’ll face the complete wrath of the legislation,” Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Lawyer for the District of Columbia, stated at an unrelated information convention Friday during which she revealed the Justice Division’s dying penalty resolution.
The hate crimes prices imply prosecutors must show that Rodriguez was motivated by antisemitism when he opened hearth on Lischinsky and Milgrim, a younger couple who had been about to grow to be engaged. Milgrim, 26, was a U.S. citizen and Lischinsky, 30, was an Israeli citizen working within the U.S.
Prosecutors have described the killing as calculated and deliberate, saying Rodriguez flew to the Washington area from Chicago forward of the Could 21 occasion on the Capital Jewish Museum with a handgun in his checked baggage.
Witnesses described him pacing outdoors earlier than approaching a bunch of 4 individuals and opening hearth. Surveillance video confirmed Rodriguez advancing nearer to Lischinsky and Milgrim as they fell to the bottom, leaning over them and firing further photographs. He appeared to reload earlier than jogging off, officers have stated.
After the capturing, authorities say Rodriguez went contained in the museum and stated, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I’m unarmed,” based on courtroom paperwork. He additionally instructed detectives that he admired an active-duty Air Power member who set himself on hearth outdoors the Israeli Embassy in February 2024, describing the person as “brave” and a “martyr.”
In Friday’s courtroom submitting, prosecutors stated Rodriguez’s actions had been “motivated by political, ideological, nationwide, and spiritual bias, contempt, and hatred.” He “focused people whom he perceived to have attended an occasion for younger Jewish professionals … to amplify the impact of his crimes,” they wrote.
Attorneys for Rodriguez didn’t instantly reply to an electronic mail looking for remark. A number of weeks earlier than Friday’s announcement, protection attorneys had a gathering with Justice Division officers the place they may current proof that they consider would weigh towards looking for the dying penalty within the case.
The following courtroom look for Rodriguez is ready for June 30. A trial date hasn’t been scheduled but.
Related Press author Eric Tucker contributed to this report.