(JNS) The FBI raided the Chicago apartment of Elias Rodriguez on Thursday, searching for clues in their investigation of the 30-year-old, who is accused of shooting and killing two Israeli embassy employees in Washington on Wednesday night, as they left an American Jewish Committee young professionals event at the Capital Jewish Museum.
“FBI Chicago is conducting court-authorized law-enforcement activity in the Chicago area in relation to yesterday’s tragic shooting in Washington, D.C.,” the bureau stated.
“Last night’s act of terror has the full attention of the FBI. Targeted antisemitic violence is an attack on our core values and will be met with the full weight of federal law enforcement,” Kash Patel, the FBI director, stated. “The individual responsible will be held accountable, and the bureau will continue pursuing every lead until justice is served.”
The Anti-Defamation League said on Thursday that it had connected Rodriguez “with a high degree of certainty” to a manifesto that was circulating on social media that is titled “Escalate for Gaza, Bring the War Home.”
“The text of the manifesto stated that non-violent protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza have been insufficient, and states that the ‘perpetrators and abettors’ of genocide have ‘forfeited their humanity,’” the ADL stated. “It also praises Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old active-duty U.S. Airman who died after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 25, 2024.”
Just before noon, Dan Bongino, the FBI deputy director, stated that the bureau “is aware of certain writings allegedly authored by the suspect, and we hope to have updates as to the authenticity very soon.” (JNS sought comment from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, the FBI and the social-media network X.)
The district’s Metropolitan Police Department named Rodriguez as the suspect in custody on Wednesday. Rodriguez paced back and forth outside the museum before approaching a group of four people with a handgun and opening fire, killing two, according to Pamela Smith, the D.C. police chief. The Israeli government later identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim.
‘Happy New Year, death to Israel’
After allegedly shooting Milgrim and Lischinsky, Rodriguez entered the Jewish museum and was detained by security at the AJC event, D.C. police said.
Witnesses told local news that Rodriguez ran into the museum shortly after he opened fire around 9 p.m. and that attendees initially mistook him for a potential victim of the shooting and offered him water and other support.
Videos on social media appeared to show police officers subsequently arresting Rodriguez, while he shouted “free, free Palestine” with a red keffiyeh at his feet.
“Once in handcuffs, the suspect identified where he discarded the weapon, and that weapon has been recovered, and he implied that he committed the offense,” the Washington police chief said on Wednesday. “We believe the shooting was committed by a single suspect.”
Among the posts on a social-media account attributed to the suspect are statements that suggest that he holds far-left, violent, pro-Hamas and anti-Israel views.
“Happy New Year, death to Israel,” the account posted on Jan. 1, 2024.
“Progressive tweeps, as much as I love delving into the day’s discourse, can we please save the idealistic and high-minded debate over the morality of sending a truck bomb into the offices of The New York Times until after we send a truck bomb into the office,” another post reads. The user cut off the final word in an apparent attempt to suggest that it was not a completed threat.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation, a revolutionary communist party that frequently organizes anti-Israel protests, stated on Thursday that Rodriguez “had a brief association with one branch of the PSL that ended in 2017.”
“We have nothing to do with this shooting and do not support it,” it said.
