The Justice Department has expressed its intent to seek the death penalty for the man accused of shooting and killing two Israeli Embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington around this time last year.The DOJ explained its reasoning in a Friday court filing, which U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced at an unrelated press conference.“My message to anyone who seeks to commit political violence in this district: D.C. is not the place,” Pirro said. “You will be held accountable, and you will face the full wrath of the law.”
Elias Rodriguez faces 13 federal charges related to the fatal shootings of Yaron Lischinsky, an Israeli diplomat, and Sarah Milgrim, a U.S. citizen, in May 2025. The charges relate to acts of terrorism, hate crimes, murder, assault, and firearm offenses.
Israeli citizen Yaron Lischinsky, right, with U.S. citizen Sarah Milgrim. The two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., were shot and killed while leaving an event at a Jewish museum on May 21, 2025. (Embassy of Israel in the U.S./AP)
The DOJ’s latest court filing in the case shows the death penalty will be applied to three charges: one count for murder of a foreign official and two counts for discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence and causing death through the use of a firearm. All the charges carry a possible death sentence, according to the DOJ.
