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 who apparently has railed on social media against the ongoing bombing of Gaza by Israel.

Elias Rodriguez, 31, of the 4700 block of North Troy Street, 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.

Police on Thursday had blocked the street outside his apartment building in the Albany Park neighborhood on Chicago’s Northwest Side. By 8:15 a.m., a stream of heavily armed men, the letters FBI inscribed on their backs, were seen leaving the brick, U-shaped apartment building, where one apartment window had signs in the window, including one reading “Cease fire now. No more death.”

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.

Later in the morning, a man walked up to an officer and asked if he could get into his apartment in the building. He told a gaggle of reporters that he didn’t know what was happening as he waited for the officer to escort him under the yellow tape stretched across the building’s front gate. When shown a photograph of the suspected shooter, the man shook his head and said quietly, “so sad.”

The investigation is being run by federal authorities in Washington, with significant assistance from the FBI Chicago field office and other Chicago-based federal agencies. The FBI’s Washington field office put out a statement Thursday morning that “FBI Chicago is conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity in the Chicago area in relation to yesterday’s tragic shooting in Washington, D.C.”

In a social media account attributed to the suspect, a lengthy manifesto was posted at 9 p.m. Wednesday titled “Escalate for Gaza. Bring the War Home,” which decried the killings of tens of thousands in Gaza, lamented how civil protests had failed to stop it, and debated the morality of “armed demonstration.”

The post ended with what appeared to be a reference to an “action” about to be taken. “I am glad today at least there are many Americans for which the action will be highly legible and, in some funny way, the only sane thing to do,” the post stated.

Rodriguez was also once linked to the Party for Socialism and Liberation — a far-left group that regularly posts anti-Israel rhetoric on social media. “End the genocide. Israel out of Gaza now,” the group posted Wednesday — just hours before the D.C. shooting.

“We reject any attempt to associate the PSL with the DC shooting. Elias Rodriguez is not a member of the PSL,” the group said in an X post early Thursday.

In an online bio for the site “The History Makers,” Rodriguez stated he was “born and raised in Chicago” and graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago with a major in English. He’d worked as an oral history researcher since 2023, "cultivating biographies of accomplished leaders in the African American community,” the bio stated. He said he enjoys “reading, writing, fiction, live music, film, and exploring new places.”

The bio was removed from the site Thursday morning.

Most recently, Rodriguez had worked as an administrative assistant for the American Osteopathic Information Association, the organization confirmed Thursday. In a statement, leaders of the organization’s sister group, the American Osteopathic Organization, offered their condolences to the victims’ families and said they were “shocked and saddened to learn that an AOIA employee has been arrested as a suspect in this horrific crime.”

The association and its sister organization would cooperate with law enforcement investigators in any way it could, the statement continued.

On Thursday morning, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement he was “horrified” to hear of the shooting and disclosed that a member of his staff had been 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 was not answered.

Reaction to the shooting continued to pour in from elected officials Thursday.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement saying “acts of antisemitism, hate and violence have no place in our nation.”

“I strongly condemn the antisemitic attack resulting in the murder of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky — two Israeli Embassy staff — at the Capital Jewish Museum last night in Washington D.C.,” the statement read. “We send our deepest condolences and pray for the victims, families, colleagues and those who loved them.”

Debra Silverstein, the 50th Ward alderman who is the only Jewish member of the City Council, said she was “deeply concerned to learn that the attacker came from Chicago.”

She said she spoke with Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling and local police commanders, who told her there is “no known threat to our local Jewish community.”

“However, out of an abundance of caution, the 24th District is increasing patrols and putting extra attention on our community,” Silverstein wrote. “I ask for law enforcement to investigate any ties to local extremist groups and to act swiftly to make sure the Jewish community in Chicago is kept safe.”

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said it was “absolutely devastating” to hear of the shooting. His colleague, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., called the shooting “absolutely horrifying.”

“My heart goes out to the victims, their families and loved ones and the entire Jewish community in the wake of this inexcusable act of antisemitic violence,” Duckworth said. “Hate should never find safe harbor in America, and we should all be united in the fight against antisemitism.”

Rodriguez was arrested at the scene where two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington were shot and killed Wednesday evening.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim. Lischinsky was a research assistant, and Milgrim organized visits and missions to Israel.

They were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum when the suspect approached a group of four people and opened fire, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.

Rodriguez was observed pacing outside the museum before the shooting, walked into the museum after the shooting and was detained by event security, Smith said.

The stunning attack prompted Israeli missions to beef up their security. The shooting comes as Israel has launched another major offensive in the Gaza Strip in a war with Hamas that has heightened tensions across the Middle East and internationally.

“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!” President Donald Trump posted on social media early Thursday. “Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”

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(Chicago Tribune reporters Madeline Buckley and Caroline Kubzansky contributed to this report.)

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