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At an arraignment on Thursday, Elias Rodriguez faced federal hate crime and other charges that could result in the death penalty.
Sept. 4, 2025, 1:32 p.m. ET
The man accused of killing two young employees of the Israeli Embassy in Washington pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a long list of charges, including federal hate crimes and murder, in a case that could result in the death penalty.
Standing beside his lawyer in an orange jumpsuit during a brief arraignment hearing, Elias Rodriguez calmly acknowledged that he understood the charges as Judge Randolph D. Moss scheduled the next steps in what both the government and Mr. Rodriguez’s lawyers said could be a lengthy and complicated case.
Mr. Rodriguez, 31, was arrested in May in connection with the fatal shooting of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, the two embassy employees. They were shot and killed while leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum.
Mr. Lischinsky, 30, and Ms. Milgrim, 26, both worked on the embassy’s diplomatic outreach. Ms. Milgrim organized events focused on collaboration between Israelis and Palestinians on problems such as water scarcity. Mr. Lischinsky had bought an engagement ring months earlier and planned to propose.
Before flying from his home in Chicago to Washington in May with a gun checked in his luggage, according to prosecutors, Mr. Rodriguez had become a vehement critic of the Israeli government and its nearly two years of military occupation of Gaza.
Posting online shortly before the shooting, he wrote that the Israeli and American governments’ responsibility for the conditions in Gaza justified “armed action.” Afterward, he stated, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” according to an F.B.I. affidavit.
