Prosecutors in Washington are seeking the death penalty for the man accused of fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staff members in the US capital.
The request was filed on Friday morning, Washington’s top federal prosecutor Jeanine Pirro said at a press conference. Pirro had already indicated last year that the death penalty was being considered.
The defendant, Elias Rodriguez, is accused of shooting dead German-Israeli national Yaron Lischinsky and his partner, US citizen Sarah Milgrim, outside the Jewish Museum in Washington in May last year. The young Jewish couple had been planning to get engaged.
The attack sparked outrage in the United States, Israel and around the world.
Prosecutors said the suspect acted with premeditation, telling a police officer: “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza.”
He faces a long list of charges, including first-degree murder of a foreign official in connection with Lischinsky’s killing, as well as two counts of first-degree murder and hate crimes and acts of terrorism.
