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  "path": "/news/man-accused-gunning-down-2-israeli-embassy-staff-members-now-facing-additional-charges",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-05T11:15:48.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.fox5dc.com",
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    "_two Israeli embassy employees were shot to death_"
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  "textContent": "The man accused of gunning down two Israeli embassy employees in May is now facing even more charges.\n\nThe Justice Department announced Wednesday night that Elias Rodriguez is now charged with four counts of acts of terrorism.\n\nLegally, an attorney told FOX 5 he believes this means something very significant as it relates to the possibility of a death sentence if Rodriguez is convicted.\n\nBut it also meant something emotionally for the witnesses who lived through that horrible night.\n\nBack in May 2025,  _two Israeli embassy employees were shot to death_ outside of the Capital Jewish Museum.\n\n\"I felt like my heart was hardened that night,\" witness Yori Kalin told FOX 5. \"It’s not pleasant to think about.\"\n\nFor the people who witnessed it at that event, like Yori and Jojo Kalin, life hasn’t been the same since.\n\n\"There’s a before and an after, and I can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube,\" Jojo said.\n\nOn Wednesday, the Kalins got word of an announcement from the Justice Department.\n\nThe suspect, Elias Rodriguez – already charged with nine counts, including murder, hate crimes – now faces four new additional charges of terrorism.\n\n**\"** It was anti-Semitic terror, and it should be labeled as such,\" Jojo Kalin said.\n\n\"He’s a terrorist, case in point. I think what’s scary, I call it the upside down, is half of the people on my Instagram don’t think what he did was necessarily bad,\" Yori added.\n\nCriminal defense attorney Joseph Tully says he believes the new charges are an intentional effort by prosecutors, in the case of a conviction, to sway a jury toward capital punishment.\n\n**\"** It’s a closer bridge to get to a death penalty. I really think that’s the significance,\" criminal defense attorney Joseph Tully told FOX 5. \"Murder doesn’t necessarily equate to a death penalty, but if you say terrorism, that’s a closer link to a death penalty i think in most Americans’ minds.\"\n\nThe Kalins aren’t lawyers, or jurors. They won’t decide Rodriguez’s fate.\n\nBut they do know the victims he is accused of killing are bound to a fate they didn’t get to choose. They pray that’s not forgotten, all these 259 days later.\n\n\"Their future was shattered. Their future was robbed from them,\" Jojo said. **\"** I want people to remember the victims and their names. Yaron and Sarah, and may their memories be a blessing.\"\n\n**\"** I just feel for the families of the two victims,\" Yori Kailin said.",
  "title": "Man accused of gunning down 2 Israeli embassy staff members now facing additional charges"
}