Elias Rodriguez: Socialist party denies Israeli embassy shooting suspect is a member

A political activist from Chicago was charged Thursday with the killing of two Israeli embassy employees outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday night.

Elias Rodriguez, 30, was detained by event security inside the museum after allegedly using a handgun to open fire on a group of four people who were leaving an event, according to the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.

He was charged with the murder of foreign officials. He also faces charges of causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, and two additional charges of first-degree murder.

Witnesses said Rodriguez was allegedly “pacing back and forth outside of the museum” before shots were fired.

Israeli officials named the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgram. The couple, who both moved to the U.S. in recent years, were due to become engaged.

Follow our latest coverage on the deadly Washington D.C. shooting here.

The suspect had a “brief association” with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which advocated on behalf of Palestinians, the group confirmed in a post on X.

The group added that Rodriguez was not a member and that his activism with them ended in 2017. “We reject any attempt to associate the PSL with the DC shooting. Elias Rodriguez is not a member of the PSL... We have nothing to do with this shooting and do not support it.”

According to the group’s Liberation newspaper, the suspect attended a protest outside the home of then-Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel. Rodriguez lives in the East Albany Park section of the city.

In a speech allegedly given on behalf of the PSL in October 2017, Rodriguez attempted to connect the murder of Laquan McDonald, who was fatally shot by Chicago police officers in 2014, and the activities of retail giant Amazon.

“The wealth that Amazon has brought to Seattle has not been shared with its Black residents,” Rodriguez said at the time, per Liberation. “[Amazon’s] whitening of Seattle is structurally racist and a direct danger to all workers who live in that city.”

The PSL launched a new campaign Wednesday and urged its X followers to “sign the pledge against genocide,” in an attempt to garner “1 million signatures to show the massive opposition that exists around the world to the U.S.-Israeli massacre in Gaza.”

Assistant Director of the FBI's Washington Field Office, Steve Jensen, said that an investigation into the homicides will “look into ties to potential terrorism” and if the attack was a “hate crime.” Jensen denounced the shooting as “heinous.”

Rodriguez was being interviewed early Thursday by both police and the FBI, Deputy Director Dan Bongino has said.

According to a LinkedIn profile, Rodriguez is a resident of Avondale in Chicago and a graduate of the University of Illinois.

Since July 2024, he has worked as an administrative specialist for the Chicago-based American Osteopathic Association.

A profile on the website, History Makers, where Rodriguez worked between 2023 and 2024, states he was born and raised in Chicago and “enjoys reading and writing fiction, live music, film, and exploring new places.”

D.C. Police Chief Smith said that after being handcuffed, Rodriguez disclosed where he discarded the handgun, which was recovered by authorities. The suspect also “implied that he committed the offense,” the Smith added.

Video footage shows the suspect chanting, “Free, free Palestine,” repeatedly, as he is arrested by police and led away from the museum.

Police believed that Rodriguez was the sole suspect at the time of reporting. He had no prior criminal record and was not previously known to law enforcement. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said there is “no active threat in our community.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi said she was at the scene with former judge Jeanine Pirro, who serves as the U.S. attorney in Washington and whose office would prosecute the case.

Israeli and U.S. officials have deemed the attack as part of a rising tide of antisemitism, intensifying amid Israel's escalating offensive in the Gaza Strip.