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A man from Chicago has been charged with terrorism after allegedly shooting two Israeli Embassy employees outside a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C. Prosecutors claim the attack was a deliberate act intended to instill fear in the Jewish community.
Elias Rodriguez, aged 31, is implicated in a 13-count superseding indictment that was unveiled in U.S. District Court on Wednesday. The charges are related to the fatal incident on May 21, where two staff members from the Israeli Embassy were shot outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.
Initially, Rodriguez faced charges including the murder of a foreign official, using a firearm to cause death, and discharging a firearm during a violent crime. These were in addition to two federal hate crime charges resulting in death, as well as counts of first-degree premeditated murder while armed and assault with intent to kill while armed.
The new indictment expands upon these charges, adding four counts of armed terrorism, alongside two counts each of first-degree murder and assault with intent to kill.
Elias Rodriguez, hailing from Chicago, stands accused of the deadly attack on May 21, 2025, that claimed the lives of two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, D.C. (Image: Instagram/@shinewithIsrael)
Court documents allege Rodriguez approached Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, as they left a “Young Diplomats Reception” at the museum, fired roughly 20 shots from a semi-automatic handgun, and called out “Free Palestine.”
After the shooting, authorities claim Rodriguez entered the occupied museum, pulled out a red keffiyeh and said, “I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza.”
As police removed Rodriguez from the museum, he allegedly shouted, “shame on you” and “shame on Zio-nazi terror” at the remaining event attendees.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, speak to law enforcement officials at the site of the shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers on May 21, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)
Both Lischinsky and Milgrim died in the attack, and two wounded embassy workers survived.
Darren Cox, FBI assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office, said that in addition to the shooting, Rodriguez allegedly wrote and published a manifesto “attempting to morally justify his actions and inspire others to commit political violence.”
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro added her office will not rest until Rodriguez is held accountable for the “horrific and targeted act of terror.”
People gather to light candles in a makeshift memorial to honor Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, who were killed as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Lischinsky was an Israeli citizen and employee of the Government of Israel, who was in the U.S. on official business while working for the Israeli Embassy.
Milgrim, of Overland Park, Kansas, was also employed by the Israeli Embassy.Â
Several of the charges filed against Rodriguez carry a maximum penalty of death, and a mandatory life sentence.