The nine-count indictment returned against Elias Rodriguez, 31, accuses him of carrying out a hate crime resulting in death motivated by the "actual and perceived national origin of any person." Rodriguez also faces charges of first-degree murder and murder of a foreign official.
The indictment also includes special findings that would make Rodriguez eligible for the death penalty if convicted.
Rodriguez told police at the scene: “I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza,” according to a criminal complaint. Witnesses recounted hearing him chant "Free Palestine" after he was taken into custody. He has not yet entered a plea to the prior charges, which also include causing death with a firearm and discharging a firearm in a crime of violence.
The indictment by a federal grand jury comes ahead of a scheduled court appearance in Rodriguez’s case on Friday. It alleges Rodriguez had a history of violent rhetoric online against Israelis, including a plea to "vaporize every Israeli 18 and above."
Rodriguez, who was born and raised in Chicago, flew to the Washington area from Chicago the day before the shooting. He was seen pacing outside the museum, little more than a mile (1.6 km) from the White House, shortly before the shooting, police said.
Surveillance video footage showed Rodriguez firing about 20 rounds at Lischinsky and Milgrim, then leaning over them to fire several more rounds after they fell to the ground and after Milgrim tried to crawl away and sat up, according to an FBI affidavit in the criminal complaint. The gunman paused to reload, then resumed firing, it said.
He then tossed away his gun, retreated into the museum and was arrested there after calling attention to himself as the suspect, pulling out a red Palestinian-style keffiyeh scarf and declaring that he "did it," the affidavit said.
