Prosecutors To Seek Death Penalty in Murders of Couple Who Worked at Israeli Embassy at D.C.

The Department of Justice will seek the death penalty against the suspected gunman charged with killing two Israeli Embassy employees last May at an event at the Capital Jewish Museum at Washington, D.C. The United States attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, announced Friday morning that her office had filed notice that it will seek the execution of Elias Rodriguez in connection with the deaths of the young couple.Mr. Rodriguez allegedly yelled “Free Palestine” while opening fire at an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee. The victims, identified as Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26 — who had plans to become engaged — were shot at close range.Prosecutors say Mr. Rodriguez went inside the building after the shooting, displayed a red keffiyeh, and said, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza.”Investigators recovered a 9mm handgun and 20 spent shell casings at the scene. The FBI says Mr. Rodriguez had intended to carry out a mass shooting inside the building but his gun jammed.A federal grand jury returned an indictment in August 2025 charging Mr. Rodriguez with murder of a foreign official, hate crimes, firearms offenses, first-degree murder, and assault with intent to kill. New terrorism-related charges were added in March.Prosecutors will have to prove that Mr. Rodriguez was motivated by antisemitism to qualify him for the death penalty. Mr. Rodriguez has pleaded not guilty to all charges.Ms. Pirro said Mr. Rodriguez penned a document on his phone as he traveled to Washington from Chicago to carry out the shooting. His manifesto, allegedly titled “Explication,” argued for the “morality of armed demonstration” and stated that “[t]hose of us against the genocide take satisfaction in arguing that the perpetrators and abettors have forfeited their humanity.”The writings also expressed fury over the “atrocities committed by the Israelis against Palestine” and referenced “armed action” as a valid form of protest — one that is “the only sane thing to do.”Lischinsky was an Israeli who had served in the Israel Defense Forces from 2013 to 2016. Milgrim, an American, worked in the embassy’s public diplomacy department after previously working with Tech2Peace in Tel Aviv, where she had conducted research on peacebuilding initiatives in the Israeli-Palestinian region.“My message to anyone who seeks to commit political violence in this district — D.C. is not the place,” Ms. Pirro said. “You will be held accountable and you will face the full wrath of the law.”The Department of Justice announced last month that it was expanding the methods available to carry out federal executions. Firing squads and lethal gas will be allowed and the use of the lethal drug pentobarbital will be permitted, the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, said in a statement.

Prosecutors To Seek Death Penalty in Murders of Couple Who Worked at Israeli Embassy at D.C.

Prosecutors To Seek Death Penalty in Murders of Couple Who Worked at Israeli Embassy at D.C.

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