The Department of Justice announced the charges against Elias Rodriguez on Thursday after he allegedly gunned down two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Jewish National Museum in Washington, D.C.
Two Israeli Embassy staffers were shot and killed, prompting a police investigation just steps from the FBI’s local field office. Federal prosecutors revealed harrowing new details in the indictment of Rodriguez, according to the press release.
Surveillance footage captured Rodriguez calmly walking past Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, both employees of the Israeli diplomatic mission, before turning around, pulling a 9mm handgun from his waistband, and opening fire, the indictment said. Muzzle flashes from the weapon marked each deliberate shot. After the pair collapsed, Rodriguez advanced toward their bodies, leaned over them, and fired again at point-blank range.
As Milgrim struggled to crawl away, Rodriguez followed and fired more rounds into her back. Prosecutors allege that after reloading his firearm, he continued shooting at her as she sat up, delivering the final, fatal shots.
Authorities recovered 21 spent shell casings, a spent magazine, and a handgun with its slide locked at the scene—evidence of the merciless firepower used. The firearm was legally purchased in Illinois in 2020.
“Our community is reeling. Because of one person’s actions, two families are left to grieve for dreams that will never be realized,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in a statement. “Violence of any kind is unacceptable. Senseless acts that take innocent lives are intolerable. We will hold accountable anyone who inflicts harm on our families, our neighbors, the citizens of our nation, or the visitors to our great capital city. We are united in that purpose, and we hold strong against those whose reckless actions claim as victim any part of our community.”
During an interrogation, Rodriguez waived his Miranda rights and said he admired a man who set himself ablaze outside the Israeli Embassy last year, calling the self-immolator a “martyr” for the Palestinian cause. Investigators say Rodriguez purchased a ticket to the museum event just hours before the attack, suggesting the massacre was both calculated and ideologically motivated.
Rodriguez faces charges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for murdering foreign officials, using and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, and two counts of first-degree murder under D.C. law. He allegedly transported the weapon used in the attack from Chicago via checked luggage.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Joe Gratz/Flickr)
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