Washington DC shooting suspect recorded killing of Israeli embassy staffers, prosecutors say

The Trump administration said in August that the suspect would be eligible for the death penalty if found guilty, though prosecutors have not announced whether they will seek this punishment if Rodriguez is convicted.

US Attorney for the district of Columbia Jeanine Pirro has set a deadline of 20 October for Rodriguez’s lawyers to submit mitigating evidence against a death sentence, but his defence attorneys asked for an extension until mid-March. A hearing on that defence request is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

Prosecutors, however, oppose an extension, saying the killings were “calculated and planned,” as Rodriguez flew to Washington from Chicago with a handgun in his checked luggage.

Yaron Lichinsky and Sarah Milgrim were due to be engaged[Missing Credit]

The couple were poised to get engaged when they were shot, with Lischinsky having bought a ring and planning to propose the following week in Jerusalem after they returned from the US.

Lischinsky was a German-born Christian Zionist who had served in the Israeli Defense Forces and “chose to dedicate his life to the state of Israel and the Zionist cause,” according to the Israeli ambassador to Berlin, Ron Prosor.

Milgrim was a US citizen who was praised for “facilitating insightful discussions on geopolitics in Israel and Palestine” and her “comprehensive research on peace-building theory, emphasising grassroots initiatives in the Israeli-Palestinian region”.

Directly after the shootings, the suspect chanted,“Free, free Palestine” as he was taken into custody, according to DC police chief Pamela Smith.