FBI searches Albany Park home of Elias Rodriguez, man accused of killing 2 Israeli Embassy staffers in D.C.

Federal law enforcement agents searched an Albany Park apartment of a man who allegedly shot and killed two staff members of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C.

Camera flashes could be seen emanating Thursday morning from an apartment window in the 4700 block of North Troy Avenue. A sign in the window reads “Justice for Wadea" — referencing a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy fatally stabbed by his landlord in a hate crime in Plainfield Township in 2023.

Authorities say the 31-year-old suspect, Elias Rodriguez, shot two victims at close range Wednesday evening as they were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum. The victims were Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim.

Rodriguez allegedly yelled "Free, free Palestine" as he was arrested, police say, a reference to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

A spokeswoman for the FBI Chicago field office confirmed its agents were “conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity” alongside Chicago police in relation to the shooting investigation. The spokeswoman couldn’t say whether Rodriguez had previously come under the agency’s scrutiny. He had no prior arrests, according to a public records database.

John Wayne Fry, 71, lives in the apartment next to Rodriguez. He told reporters Rodriguez was “quiet and friendly” during their limited interactions. He said Rodriguez lived with a woman, but he was unsure how they were related.

Regarding a sign in their apartment reading "Justice for Wadea," Fry said it "gave me the impression that they were very, very sensitive people, especially about the issue of Palestine."

Fry, who has his own sign in a window calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, said they never talked about Palestine or Israel.

Who is Elias Rodriguez?

The man accused of killing two Israeli Embassy aides was working at the Chicago-based American Osteopathic Information Association, a trade group for osteopaths, according to a LinkedIn page associated with Rodriguez.

The organization confirmed his employment there, saying in a statement that they are "shocked and saddened to learn that an AOIA employee has been arrested as a suspect in this horrific crime." He began work in July as a profiles administrative specialist, according to the LinkedIn.

Before that, Rodriguez worked as a production and logistics coordinator and oral history researcher for The History Makers, a Chicago nonprofit that documents histories of Black Americans, according to the profile.

Rodriguez was once a member of a local branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, though he has not been affiliated with them since 2017, the group confirmed Thursday.

"We reject any attempt to associate the PSL with the D.C. shooting. Elias Rodriguez is not a member of the PSL," the Party for Socialism and Liberation wrote on social media. "He had a brief association with one branch of the PSL that ended in 2017. We know of no contact with him in over 7 years. We have nothing to do with this shooting and do not support it."

The Chicago Police Department said it is monitoring the attack in D.C. and giving "special attention on the Israeli consulate" in Chicago "and places of worship."

Police vehicles blocked off North Troy Street from Lawrence Avenue to Leland Avenue and news cameras were set up across from the suspect’s supposed apartment. Neighbors gathered at the end of the block to observe.

Patrick Castillo, 41, lives a few buildings down from Rodriguez’s apartment with his wife and two daughters. He said he saw cameras outside around 6:40 a.m., but he didn’t notice a police presence until just before 8 a.m.

“I didn’t know if they were filming something, like a movie,” he said.

But when he saw police and men in camouflage carrying guns, he thought, “There’s definitely something going on.”

Castillo said he doesn’t know Rodriguez or anyone else in the building. The area is “pretty calm,” he said.

Rodriguez was being interviewed early Thursday by D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department as well as the FBI, according to the Associated Press. The U.S. attorney in Washington will prosecute the case.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.