A suspect in the Wednesday fatal shootings of two members of the Israeli Embassy near the Jewish museum in Washington, D.C., has been identified as a Chicago man.
Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago was being held for questioning, authorities said Thursday. He was being interviewed early Thursday by D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department as well as the FBI, according to officials.
Authorities alleged he walked into the museum after the shooting, was detained by event security and began chanting, “Free, free Palestine,” officials said.
At an address for him on the North Side, police could be seen blocking the street. By 8:15 a.m., a stream of heavily armed men, the letters FBI inscribed on their backs, were seen leaving the apartment building. More agents remained.
Neighbors on the block were startled to open their doors to the sight of federal agents clogging the street. “That’s terrifying,” one woman said when told why they were outside her home.
On Thursday morning, Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement he was “horrified” to hear of the shooting and disclosed that a member of his staff was attending the event.
“While they are shaken up, they are thankfully safe,” the governor said. “Law enforcement has apprehended the suspected gunman, and although the investigation continues, make no mistake: this was an attack on the Jewish community.”
Pritzker, who is Jewish, has pledged Illinois’ support for Israel while also seeking to distinguish Hamas militants from the Palestinian people, who he has said want peace in the region. But as someone who led the building of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie, Pritzker expressed how the shooting resonated with him and what trauma it has caused.
“Young Jewish people and diplomats came together in a museum built to honor their shared history but then had to flee gun shots and witness the killing of a young couple,” Pritzker said. “Whether it’s gun violence or the rising tide of antisemitism, Americans of all backgrounds have an urgent obligation to stand for peace and reject bigotry in all its forms and in every way possible.”
It was not immediately clear whether Rodriguez had an attorney who could comment on his behalf. A telephone number listed in public records rang unanswered.
Rodriguez had previously posted on X that it was time to bring the war in Gaza home.
