OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
3:14 PM – Friday, May 15, 2026
The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking the death penalty for Elias Rodriguez, the man accused of shooting and killing a young couple who worked at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C.
On Friday, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro’s office officially filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty against the 31-year-old activist.
Pirro has said for months that the death penalty was on the table for Rodriguez, though the request requires the Attorney General’s approval to move forward.
Rodriguez has 13 total counts worth of criminal charges against him, including terrorism.
The filing accuses Rodriguez of the following offenses:
- Intentional killing, intentional infliction of serious bodily injury.
- Intentional participation in an act resulting in death.
- Intentional engagement in an act of violence that created a grave risk of death to a person.
- Death during the commission of another crime.
- Posing a grave risk of death to other persons in addition to those killed.
- Premeditation of an act of terrorism.
- Offense against a person made vulnerable by infirmity.
- Multiple killings in a single criminal episode.
Prosecutors said Rodriguez faces capital punishment for the murder of a foreign official — in this case, two — and firearm offenses involving death.
They also alleged that his actions were “motivated by political, ideological, national, and religious bias, contempt, and hatred,” constituting an aggravating factor.
Rodriguez was caught on video shouting, “Free Palestine!” during his arrest outside of the Capital Jewish Museum, where the two victims were killed.
30-year-old German and Israeli national Yaron Lischinsky and 26-year-old Sarah Milgrim, from Kansas, were described by an embassy official as having “the cutest love story, like a poster for a Netflix rom-com.”
Before their deaths, the couple had a trip to Israel planned, where Milgrim was to meet Lischinsky’s family for the first time. Lischinsky had already purchased an engagement ring and was planning to propose to Milgrim during the trip.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, an appointee of former President Barack Obama who oversees the trial proceedings, has set Rodriguez’s next court date for June 30th.
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