On Thursday, a Chicago political activist Elias Rodriguez was charged with the Wednesday night murders of two Israeli embassy staff outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.
Milgrim was killed alongside her boyfriend, Yaron Lischinsky, after the two were just leaving a young diplomat’s event celebrating Jewish heritage.
Sarah Milgrim was a young American citizen who was just 26-years-old at the time of her death. Milgrim was a young and vibrant woman who was dedicated towards making a change. Sarah had deep roots in Jewish education and international affairs, and she had a profound connection to Israel. She seemingly devoted her career towards building bridges between cultures, faiths, and nations.
Who is Elias Rodriguez, Washington DC shooter who killed two Israel embassy staff members, bio, age, parents, girlfriend, college, job, nationality and ethnicity
According to the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, Elias Rodriguez, 30, was arrested by event security inside the museum after he allegedly opened fire on a group of four individuals who were departing an event with a handgun.
He is accused of killing two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington DC. In addition, he is charged with two further counts of first-degree murder, causing death by the use of a firearm, and firing a handgun during a violent crime.
Prior the gunfire, witnesses claimed Elias Rodriguez was “pacing back and forth outside of the museum.”
The victims were identified by Israeli officials as Sarah Milgram and Yaron Lischinsky. The pair, who had both recently relocated to the United States, were scheduled to get engaged.
BREAKING: Elias Rodriguez, a 30-year-old from Chicago, has been charged with first-degree murder, murder of foreign officials, causing death with a firearm, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, following a shooting incident in Washington, D.C. pic.twitter.com/LrxABCOjSM
— Bella (@stockbella) May 22, 2025
In a post on X, the group confirmed that the suspect had a “brief association” with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which supported Palestinian causes.
The group added that Rodriguez was not a member and that his activism with them ended in 2017. “We reject any attempt to associate the PSL with the DC shooting. Elias Rodriguez is not a member of the PSL… We have nothing to do with this shooting and do not support it.”
The suspect reportedly participated in a demonstration outside the residence of Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago at the time, according to the group’s Liberation newspaper. Rodriguez resides in the city’s East Albany Park neighbourhood.
Elias Rodriquez girlfriend has closed her X account. As you can see from her tweets she is as deranged as he is. pic.twitter.com/fPWHONpNM1
— GnasherJew®גנאשר (@GnasherJew) May 22, 2025
Rodriguez argued that Chicago’s bid to host an Amazon headquarters and the police killing were interconnected issues, talking about systemic racism and economic inequality.
Rodriguez made an attempt to link the actions of retail behemoth Amazon and the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald in a speech purportedly delivered on behalf of the PSL in October 2017.
According to Deputy Director Dan Bongino, Rodriguez was being questioned by the FBI and police early on Thursday.
Rodriguez’s father, Eric Rodriguez, is a union member who appeared in a video for the Service Employees International Union this year, identifying himself as a federal employee with the Veterans Affairs Department and also an Iraq War veteran. He was sent to Iraq when Elias was just 11. Elias’ parents live separately.
While Elias is believed to have a girlfriend who went by ‘this worm says free Palestine’, her identity isn’t known with her having deactivated her Twitter/X account now. Elias had however commented love u on pictures of them together on the social media platform.
Rodriguez who lives in Albany Park is a University of Illinois graduate and a resident of Avondale, Chicago, according to his LinkedIn profile. Rodriguez attended from the fall of 2016 through the spring of 2018 and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he worked as a writer for wikiHow and was a senior content associate for CouponCabin, a company based in Chicago that provides printable and digital coupons for discounts to consumers. He later worked as an oral history researcher and production coordinator at a Black history site, and then took a job at the American Osteopathic Information Association.
Here is Elias Rodriguez's bio on the History Makers websitehttps://t.co/bmp4sCFJo1 https://t.co/nPp4Ou0yFM pic.twitter.com/BB6Eqz27m9
— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) May 22, 2025
He has been employed at the Chicago-based American Osteopathic Association since July 2024 as an administrative specialist.
Rodriguez, 31, a Hispanic American led a life typical of a college-educated young professional in Chicago, residing in an apartment in a middle-class North Side neighborhood, with friends and family nearby.
🚨 Elias Rodriguez
• Born in Chicago
• BA from University of Illinois
• Oral History Researcher at The HistoryMakers
• Focuses on biographies of accomplished leaders in the African American community
• Belongs to the “party for socialism and liberation
• Far Left Activist pic.twitter.com/gvOaD4Docn— Alec Lace (@AlecLace) May 22, 2025
Rodriguez was born and raised in Chicago, according to his profile on the website History Makers, where he worked from 2023 to 2024. He “enjoys reading and writing fiction, live music, film, and exploring new places.”
Rodriguez was registered to vote in Illinois, and in 2020 donated $500 to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and didn’t have any criminal record prior to the shooting.
About an hour after the shooting, a document believed to be linked to Rodriguez surfaced on social media and titled ‘Escalate For Gaza, Bring The War Home’, the post accused Israel of killing tens of thousands of Palestinians since the Hamas attacks in October 2023.
“I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed,” he said after being arrested.
DC suspect Elias Rodriquez of Chicago donated to Joe Biden. pic.twitter.com/PehAGcaxj5
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) May 22, 2025