Suspect in murder of Israel embassy staffers in US indicted for hate crime

Authorities charged the defendant with carrying out a hate crime, with the murder of the embassy officials described as calculated and planned.

A man accused of shooting dead two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington, DC, has been indicted on federal hate crime and murder charges, as President Donald Trump suggested he may call on the National Guard to bring down crime rates in the United States capital.

Court documents filed in federal court in Washington and unsealed on Wednesday show that defendant Elias Rodriguez has been charged with nine counts, including a hate crime resulting in death.

The 30-year-old is accused of shooting dead Israeli embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, a young couple who were about to become engaged, as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington in May.

Rodriguez, who witnesses described as pacing outside the museum before the attack, approached the couple and opened fire.

Surveillance footage then showed him advance on Lischinsky and Milgrim as they fell to the ground, firing additional shots as he stood over them. Rodriguez appeared to reload before jogging off, according to officials.

Two other people who were standing with the couple at the time of the attack escaped unharmed.

Rodriguez then entered the museum and confessed to the killings. He was heard shouting “Free Palestine” as he was led away. Rodriguez also told police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza “, according to federal authorities.

Rodriguez was previously charged with the murder of foreign officials and other crimes. Prosecutors added the hate crimes charges after bringing the case to a grand jury.

Also included in the indictment is a notice of special findings allowing the Department of Justice to potentially pursue the death penalty.

Prosecutors are now tasked with proving that Rodriguez was motivated by anti-Semitism when he opened fire on Lischinsky and Milgrim.

Lischinsky was a research assistant at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, while Milgrim organised trips to Israel for the embassy. Lischinsky, a German-Israeli citizen, had reportedly bought an engagement ring days before he and Milgrim, a Jewish US citizen, were killed.

Also on Wednesday, President Trump said he may deploy the National Guard to police Washington’s streets, telling reporters outside the White House that the capital is “very unsafe” and it “has to be the best-run place in the country”.

“We’re going to beautify the city. We’re going to make it beautiful. And what a shame, the rate of crime, the rate of muggings, killings and everything else. We’re not going to let it,” Trump said.

“And that includes bringing in the National Guard, maybe very quickly, too,” he added.