A man accused of killing two Israeli diplomats in Washington last year was indicted on four additional counts of terrorism, in a new indictment that was unsealed on Wednesday.
The new indictment includes nine charges, including hate crimes, filed earlier. Several of the charges carry a maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said.
"These additional terrorism-related charges carry a mandatory life sentence under DC Code, while also reflecting the reality that this act was in fact an act of terror," US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in a statement.
Prosecutors accuse Elias Rodriguez, 31, of opening fire on people leaving an event for young professionals and diplomats hosted by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that fights antisemitism and supports Israel.
He fired approximately 20 shots from a semi-automatic handgun, and called out "Free Palestine," according to prosecutors.
Lawyers for Rodriguez did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, who both worked for Israel's Embassy in Washington, were killed.
Darren B. Cox, the FBI assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office, said Rodriguez wrote and published a manifesto as an attempt to "morally justify his actions" and inspire others to commit political violence.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was shocked by the horrific antisemitic murder of embassy staff in Washington, his office said in a statement at the time.
“We are witnessing the terrible price of antisemitism and the wild incitement against the State of Israel. The blood libels against Israel come at the cost of blood, and they must be fought until eradicated," Netanyahu said.
"My heart aches with the families of the beloved young man and woman whose lives were suddenly cut short by a despicable antisemitic murderer.
"I have instructed to strengthen security arrangements at Israeli missions worldwide and to increase protection for state representatives,” he concluded.
US A-G Pam Bondi: 'DOJ will pursue death penalty for suspect in Capital Jewish Museum murders'
US Attorney-General Pam Bondi opened a January 16 address to the Israeli-American Council (IAC) National Summit by recalling the May 2025 killing of two Israeli Embassy staffers outside Washington’s Capital Jewish Museum, calling the attack a clear example of antisemitism in the United States and pledging aggressive federal enforcement.
“Sarah and Yaron were shot, murdered because they were Jewish,” Bondi said. “It was horrible, horrible. We will not tolerate that in our country any longer.”
Bondi told the audience that federal prosecutors are pursuing capital punishment in the case, saying, “We are prosecuting the monster, and we will seek the death penalty.” The suspect, Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, has been indicted on federal hate crime and murder charges tied to the May 21, 2025, shooting outside the museum, with counts that can carry the death penalty under federal law.
A week after the murder, multiple pro-Palestine and Marxist groups rallied behind the attacker – Elias Rodriguez – and announced campaigns to free him.
The most prominent of these campaigns was started by Unity of Fields – formerly known as Palestine Action US – which announced a “Free Elias Rodriguez Organizing Committee” on Monday.
The campaign is co-signed by 28 other pro-Palestine or Marxist groups, including Palestine News Network, The United Liberation Front for Palestine, the Chinese Palestine Solidarity Action Network, the DSA Liberation Caucus, the Bronx Anti-War coalition, and Tariq el-Tahrir Youth and Student Network.
The campaign statement calls Elias Rodriguez’s murder of the two embassy workers on May 21 “a legitimate act of resistance against the zionist state and its genocidal campaign in Gaza.”
“The time has now come for real consequences; they have left no other option,” it added.
The statement then launched into a multi-paragraph diatribe about Zionist supremacy and imperialism before adding that “in this light, the operation conducted by Elias Rodriguez against Israel’s diplomatic functionaries in Washington DC – people actively engaged in facilitating this comprehensive violence across the globe by creating the diplomatic space to continue and deepen it – was, by his own account, a declaration of ENOUGH!”
“Such counter-violence is legitimate, it is justice.”
Darcie Grunblatt and Mathilda Heller contributed to this story.