A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted on hate crime costs the person accused of killing two Israeli Embassy staffers exterior a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C.
Elias Rodriguez, 31, newly faces two counts of hate crime leading to loss of life and two assault counts. It provides to an authentic batch of costs unveiled in May.
Federal prosecutors additionally moved nearer to pursuing the loss of life penalty by together with a discover of particular findings outlining aggravating elements that might make Rodriguez eligible for execution, if convicted.
Rodriguez stands accused of gunning down a younger couple who labored for the Israeli Embassy — Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26 — on Might 21 simply exterior D.C.’s Capital Jewish Museum as they had been leaving an occasion.
Shortly after the capturing, Rodriguez allegedly informed occasion attendees “I did it for Palestine” and yelled at them, “disgrace on you.”
The indictment states Rodriguez sooner or later prior authored a doc saying he takes “satisfaction” in arguing the “perpetrators and abettors have forfeited their humanity.” He allegedly scheduled it to publish on social media within the hours after the capturing.
“A perpetrator could then be a loving mother or father, a filial youngster, a beneficiant and charitable buddy, an amiable stranger…, and but be a monster all the identical. Humanity doesn’t exempt one from accountability,” Rodriguez wrote, in response to the indictment.
The charging paperwork additionally element a number of social media posts Rodriguez made within the months main as much as the incident. It consists of one in Might 2024, when Rodriguez allegedly despatched a direct message that stated “please please please god please vaporize each Israeli 18 and above.”
The Hill has reached out to Rodriguez’s lawyer for remark.
He has not but entered a plea however is because of make his subsequent courtroom look on Friday.
The brand new hate crime and assault costs add to a felony grievance that prosecutors unveiled in Might. The indictment additionally consists of these authentic costs of homicide of overseas officers, two counts of first-degree homicide and two firearms costs.