The Chicago man accused of traveling to D.C. and opening fire on Capital Jewish Museum attendees in May recorded the entire deadly attack according to new information from federal investigators.
UIC graduate and East Albany Park resident Elias Rodriguez has been in the D.C. lockup now for four months after authorities say he checked a pistol on his flight from O’Hare and then fired a barrage of shots at Jewish museum attendees once he got to Washington.
NBC Chicago has learned that Rodriguez was “shooting the shooting,” recording the incident in real time on a body-worn camera according to federal authorities, just like the police who would arrive and arrest him a few minutes later.
Rodriguez, 31, sounded erratic and spur-of-the-moment four months ago during the shooting, shouting antisemitic slurs when police arrived. But federal investigators say he had a specific and elaborate plot to attack Israeli embassy employees as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum.
As NBC Chicago reported in the spring spring, he allegedly brought a legally obtained 9mm pistol in his checked luggage on a flight from O’Hare. The Chicago man had filled out required paperwork and to transport his weapon legally on the flight.
When he arrived, he allegedly set up in front of the museum and opened fire on attendees at an Israeli embassy event.
At the time, US Attorney Jeannie Pirro alleged the shooter “watched as people left the reception. When he saw the four victims in this case, all of whom were from the Israeli embassy, he crossed the street. He opened fire, killing first Yaron Lischinsky, then killing Sarah Milgrim, and when firing these fatal shots, he yelled, ‘free Palestine’.”
What we are just now learning from newly filed federal court records, is that a BWC-body worn camera-“worn by Rodriguez himself, was capturing both video and audio, depicting the murders from a first-person perspective.”
According to investigators, it was a Kaysunlink device that Rodriguez had allegedly purchased before leaving Chicago…and then, they say, he had the camera shipped to his hotel in D.C.
“This transaction, executed days before the offense, underscores that he premeditated carrying out an act of violence in D.C. at least days in advance, and prior to his travel from Chicago,” prosecutors said.
That alleged premeditation of wearing a body camera to record murders- is a major reason authorities say they are weighing this as a possible death penalty case.
Rodriguez has pleaded not guilty to first degree murder and federal hate crime charges. On Wednesday his attorneys will go to court in Washington D.C. asking for more time to develop evidence aimed at fighting an expected death penalty move by federal prosecutors.