People who knew the Washington shooting suspect from his home city of Chicago told investigators he had been outraged by the killing of a 6-year-old child Muslim Palestinian child in 2023 and sought vengeance for his death.
CBS News Chicago has reported that when investigators interviewed people who knew Elias Rodriguez, who is accused of killing Israeli Embassy employees Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim on Wednesday night in Washington, they learned that the murder of Wadee Alfayoumi, 6, in the Chicago suburb of Plainfield, Illinois, affected him deeply.
The boy's landlord was later convicted of murder and hate crime charges that alleged the landlord killed the child because he was Palestinian and Muslim.
Rodriguez has a photo of Wadee in the window of his Chicago home and people who spoke with authorities said he felt a need to avenge his death. It is unclear if Rodriguez knew the boy.
The suspect's desire for revenge appears to have been heightened by the plight of the Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war.
CBS reported that federal authorities descended on Rodriguez's apartment in the Chicago neighborhood of Albany Park early Thursday, not long after he was arrested in the nation's capital. They took boxes, backpacks, and luggage with them when they left in the late afternoon, and it was reported that a Hyundai Accent registered to Rodriguez was also towed away.
Rodriguez reportedly attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, graduating in spring 2018 with a bachelor's degree in English. He was a student when demonstrations erupted in the city over the Great March of Return protests along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, as well as President Donald Trump's decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. It is unclear if Rodriguez attended any of these protests.
In writings he posted on X and pro-Palestinian sites, Rodriguez expressed anger over what was being done to the Palestinians and said he wanted to avenge atrocities he believed Israelis committed against them.
"We are aware of some writings that are purported to have been authored by this subject. We're actively investigating to determine both the authorship and the attribution of these writings," Steven Jensen, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington field office, told CBS.
Rodriguez has been charged with murder of foreign officials, causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm, and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, as well as two counts of first-degree murder.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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