US seeks death penalty for suspect in killing of two Israeli embassy staff in DC

The US government wants the death penalty for the man accused of killing two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC last year.

US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro filed a notice Friday to seek capital punishment on three of 13 charges against 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez. President Donald Trump has backed the federal death penalty after predecessor Joe Biden restricted it.

Prosecutors say Rodriguez shot the couple—Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26—outside the Capital Jewish Museum. He shouted "Free Palestine" as police arrested him in May 2025.

Pirro's office will pursue death if Rodriguez is convicted of murder of a foreign official, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, and causing death through use of a firearm. He also faces hate crime and terrorism charges.

"My office will not rest in our efforts to hold Elias Rodriguez accountable for this horrific, and targeted act of terror against Yaron Lischinsky, Sarah Milgrim and our Jewish community," Pirro said earlier this year.

Before the shooting, Rodriguez voiced support for violence against Israelis. Social media posts attributed to him included "Death to Israel." Prosecutors say he traveled from Chicago to Washington with a handgun after researching a networking event for young Jewish professionals at the museum.

Lischinsky and Milgrim were leaving the event when Rodriguez fired 20 shots and killed them both, according to prosecutors. The couple was in a relationship. Lischinsky had bought an engagement ring and planned to propose to Milgrim on a trip to Israel, Israel's ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, has said.

After the attack, Rodriguez entered the museum, showed a red keffiyeh, and said: "I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza."

Prosecutors say he wrote a document titled "explication" that backed Palestine and accused Israel of trying to exterminate Palestinians.

"In addition to allegedly murdering two innocent people and terrorizing the survivors of his attack at the Capital Jewish Museum, Rodriguez wrote and published a manifesto attempting to morally justify his actions and inspire others to commit political violence," said Darren Cox, FBI Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office, in a February press release.

During his first term, Trump resumed federal executions, which had been dormant for more than a decade, and eased related policies. The Biden administration reversed those changes and imposed a moratorium on federal executions.

On his first day back in the White House, Trump ordered the Justice Department to "prioritize seeking death sentences in appropriate cases, promptly carrying out those sentences, and strengthening the death penalty," the department said.