Information unearthed Thursday suggested that the alleged Capital Jewish Museum shooter is more of a radical leftist domestic terrorist than a radical Islamic one and equally deadly.
Elias Rodriguez, 31, shouted "Free, free Palestine," according to police, after pulling out a red keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by men from parts of the Middle East.
But a LinkedIn profile reportedly representing Rodriguez's background and radical leftist activist group ties shows he is from Chicago, holding an English degree from the University of Illinois and being employed by the nonprofit American Osteopathic Information Association as an "administrative specialist."
Rodriguez previously was a researcher at The HistoryMakers, which is the "US's largest African-American video oral history archive," according to website data. Its website said Rodriguez "prepares biographies of accomplished leaders in the African-American community."
Rodriguez donated to former President Joe Biden's campaign, The Times of London reported.
A 2017 GoFundMe fundraiser started by anti-Israel activist group Answer Chicago depicted a man by the name of Elias Rodriguez as a "young resister" and the "son of an Iraq war veteran," the Times reported. An Answer Chicago account on X had posted about "anti-war" and Palestinian activism before Hamas terrorists killed an estimated 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, but the account showed no posts since the early days of the Biden administration.
Past media reports also showed an Elias Rodriguez matching the shooter's profile as appearing at Black Lives Matter protests in Chicago and speaking out against racism in America, saying, according to the Times, that Amazon's "whitening of Seattle is structurally racist and a direct danger to all workers who live in that city."
"So do we in Chicago and all across the country want a nation of cities dominated and occupied by massive corporations where only the rich and white can live and the vast majority of us must live on edges of the city and society living in deeper and deeper poverty?"
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told Reuters that "toxic antisemitic incitement" is the root cause of deadly violence around the world.
"There is a direct line connecting antisemitic and anti-Israel incitement to this murder," he told a news conference in Jerusalem. "This incitement is also done by leaders and officials of many countries and organizations, especially from Europe."
Rodriguez was initially mistaken for a victim of the shooting and allowed into the building, witnesses said.
"We heard gunshots and then a man comes in and he looks really distressed," said Katie Kalisher, who was inside the Capital Jewish Museum when the attack happened. "People are talking to him and trying to calm him down. Eventually, he comes over to where I was seated, and I was literally like, 'Do you need any water? Are you OK?'"
Witness Yoni Kalin said a security guard "happened to let this guy in" the building.
"I guess they were thinking that he was a victim," he said. "He was in shock, and you know, some of the people at the event brought him water. They sat him down. 'Are you OK? Were you shot? What happened?' And he's like, 'Somebody call the cops.'"
The man was then detained after he produced a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf from his bag and claimed responsibility for the shooting, the witnesses said.
"'I did it. I did this for Gaza,'" Kalisher quoted him as saying.
Information from Reuters was used to compile this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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