WASHINGTON >> The man accused of fatally shooting two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington outside a Jewish museum told police after his arrest, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” federal authorities said Thursday in announcing charges in the killings they called a targeted act of terrorism.

Elias Rodriguez, 31, shouted “Free Palestine” as he was led away after his arrest, according to charging documents that provided chilling new details of the Wednesday night attack in the nation’s capital that killed an American woman and Israeli man who had just left an event at the museum.

The stunning attack prompted Israeli missions to beef up their security and lower their flags to half-staff. It came as Israel pursues another major offensive in the Gaza Strip in the war with Hamas that has heightened tensions across the Middle East and internationally, and that law enforcement officials have repeatedly warned could inspire violence in the U.S.

Rodriguez faces charges of murder of foreign officials and other crimes and did not enter a plea during a perfunctory court appearance. Additional charges are likely, prosecutors said, as authorities continue to investigate the killings as both a hate crime against the Jewish community and terrorism.

“Violence against anyone based on their religion is an act of cowardice. It is not an act of a hero,” said Jeanine Pirro, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. “Antisemitism will not be tolerated, especially in the nation’s capital.”

Couple in relationship

The two people killed were identified as Yaron Lischinsky, an Israeli veteran and citizen, and Sarah Milgrim, an American. They were a young couple about to be engaged, according to Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Those who knew them paid tribute to the pair Thursday as warm, vibrant and curious, dedicated to promoting peace and aspiring to bridge cultural and religious divides.

An FBI affidavit made public Thursday presents the killing as calculated and planned, with authorities alleging that Rodriguez flew to the Washington region from Chicago on Tuesday with a handgun in his checked luggage. He purchased a ticket for the event about three hours before it started, the affidavit said.

The couple were leaving the Capital Jewish Museum when the suspect, who witnesses said had been behaving suspiciously by pacing outside, approached a group of four people and opened fire. Surveillance video showed Rodriguez advancing closer to the two victims as they fell to the ground, leaning over them and firing additional shots. He even appeared to reload before jogging off, the FBI said.

Yoni Kalin and Katie Kalisher were inside the museum when they heard gunshots, and a man came inside looking distressed. Kalin said people came to his aid and brought him water, thinking he needed help, without realizing he was the suspect. When police arrived, he pulled out a red keffiyeh, the Palestinian headscarf, and repeatedly yelled, “Free Palestine,’” Kalin said.

Affidavit: Suspect declared that he ‘did it’

After the shooting, the suspect went inside the museum and stated that he “did it.” He was no longer armed by the time he was taken into custody, according to the affidavit.

“I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed,” he spontaneously said. He also told detectives that he admired an active-duty Air Force member who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in February 2024, describing the man as “courageous” and a “martyr,” court documents said.

Investigators said they were still working to corroborate the authenticity of writings purported to be authored by Rodriguez, an apparent reference to a document circulating online that expressed outrage over Israel’s conduct in the war. The FBI is also contacting associates, family members and co-workers.

A statement posted Wednesday evening to Rodriguez’ account on the social media platform X, under the title “Escalate For Gaza, Bring The War Home,” condemned both the Israeli and American governments and what he called atrocities committed by the Israeli military against Palestinians. The post did not refer directly to the shooting Wednesday evening, but it justified “armed action.”

Rodriguez, who worked for a trade group, the American Osteopathic Information Association, had also posted video from a pro-Palestinian march in Chicago on X in 2023.

On Thursday, federal agents descended on his apartment in Albany Park, on Chicago’s Northwest Side, where there were two signs in the window. One read “Justice for Wadea,” a reference to a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy who was killed in Chicago two years ago in an attack motivated by anti-Muslim hate. Another sign in the window read “Tikkun Olam means free Palestine.” (Tikkun Olam is a Hebrew phrase that means “repairing the world.”)

Rodriguez appeared in federal court in Washington in a white jail suit and listened impassively as the charges and possible punishments, which include the death penalty, were read. At a home listed in public records for Rodriguez’s mother in suburban Chicago, a sign taped on the door Thursday afternoon asked for privacy.

Victims praised for their commitments

Milgrim, from Overland Park, Kansas, was “warm and compassionate, committed to peace building and passionate about sustainability and people-to-people relations,” Deutch said. A former youth director at Congregation Beth Torah recalled her as a brilliant girl with a perpetual smile and a sense of purpose.

“She had a passion for Judaism and for Israel, and she wanted to do some good,” said Marcia Rittmaster, the former youth director. She recommended Milgrim for a Jewish leadership internship upon the young woman’s graduation from high school.

Lischinsky grew up partly in the German city of Nuremberg and moved to Israel at 16.

He served in the Israeli military “and chose to dedicate his life to the State of Israel and the Zionist cause,” said Ron Prosor, who taught Lischinsky at Israel’s Reichman University. Lischinsky earned a master’s degree in government, diplomacy and strategy there.

Other diplomat attacks

On Wednesday, Israeli troops fired warning shots as a group of international diplomats was visiting the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Footage showed a number of diplomats giving media interviews as rapid shots ring out nearby, forcing them to run for cover. No one was reported injured.

The Israeli military said their visit had been approved, but the delegation “deviated from the approved route.” The military said it apologized and will contact the countries involved in the visit.

The D.C. shooting appeared to echo a series of attacks involving Israeli diplomatic outposts around the world during the war in Gaza.

Last summer, Molotov cocktails were thrown at Israeli Embassies in Mexico City and Bucharest, Romania. A man wielding a crossbow attacked the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, last June. An attacker opened fire on the Israeli Consulate in Munich in September, and two months later grenades were detonated near the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen.

This report includes information from the New York Times.