Elias Rodriguez, 31, shouted “Free Palestine” as he was taken away by police after the shooting late Wednesday outside the Capital Jewish Museum, prosecutors said in a court document.
“I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” he told the officers.
The Chicago man made an initial court appearance Thursday after being charged with two counts of first-degree murder and murder of foreign officials. If convicted, he could receive the death penalty.
Authorities were investigating the shooting “as an act of terrorism and as a hate crime,” Jeanine Pirro, interim US attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters.
“I suspect as we go forward… that there will be more charges added,” she said, noting that a preliminary hearing was set for June 18.
The shooting triggered international outrage and finger-pointing as Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar blamed European criticism of his country’s stepped-up Gaza offensive, claiming “a direct line connecting anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli incitement to this murder.”
“This incitement is also done by leaders and officials of many countries and international organizations, especially from Europe,” he said.
French foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine called the accusation “completely outrageous and completely unjustified.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited “the terrible price of anti-Semitism” and decried “wild incitement against the State of Israel.”
Soon after the shooting, President Donald Trump — who spoke with Netanyahu on Thursday — posted on social media that the attack was clearly anti-Semitic.