A large part of the investigation in the fatal shooting of 2 Israeli Embassy employees in Washington, D.C. is focused on Chicago, where the suspected gunman lives.
Federal agents converged on 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez's apartment in Albany Park early Thursday morning, shortly after he was taken into custody in D.C. It's clear they wanted to know anything they could find out about the suspect.
Nearly a dozen agents left his apartment late Thursday afternoon carrying boxes, luggage, and backpacks. At one point, agents were seen towing away a Hyundai Accent registered to Rodriguez.
Rodriguez has been charged with murder of foreign officials, two counts of first-degree murder and other counts.
CBS News Chicago Investigators have learned that Rodriguez attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, graduating in spring of 2018 with a bachelor's degree in English.
According to a LinkedIn page, for a short time he worked as a production and oral history researcher at History Makers, a non-profit that documents the lives of Black Americans.
He is currently employed at the Chicago-based American Osteopathic Information Association. The agency and its sister organization, the American Osteopathic Association, released a statement Thursday saying, "We were shocked and saddened to learn that an AOIA employee has been arrested as a suspect in this horrific crime. Both the AOIA and AOA stand ready to cooperate with the investigation in any way we can. As a physician organization dedicated to protecting the health and sanctity of human life, we believe in the rights of all persons to live safely without fear of violence."
Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling said Rodriguez does not have a criminal background.
A local organizer with Black Lives Matters identified a social media post of Rodriguez – titled "Chicago Demand Justice for Laquan, Not Money for Amazon," and said Rodriguez was a supporter of the organization, who attended several protests that Black Lives Matters organized after the shooting death of Black teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014.
That organizer for Black Lives Matter expressed sadness over the shooting in D.C., and called it an unfortunate incident.
Meantime, CBS News has identified other social media accounts where Rodriguez expressed frustration over media coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
A social media post dated May 20, which is best described as anti-Israel, stating that non-violent protests have not worked, and ending with the phrase ''Free Palestine."
A person familiar with the investigation said Rodriguez surrendered to police without incident and admitted to the shooting. The person familiar said he appeared to want to claim responsibility for the crimes. He had a handgun at the time of his arrest.
People interviewed who knew Rodriguez told investigators that he had been known to be outraged and rattled by the killing of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi in Plainfield. Wadee's landlord was later convicted of murder and hate crime charges accusing him of killing the boy because he was Muslim and Palestinian.
Rodriguez has a photo of the boy in the window in his Chicago residence and was described to investigators by people who knew that Rodriquez felt a need for vengeance for Wadee's death. It is unclear if Rodriquez knew the boy.
His apparent desire for revenge heightened with the Israel-Hamas war over the plight of the Palestinians.
Rodriquez posted Palestinian writings on X and posted on pro-Palestine forum sites, angry over the plight of the Palestinian people. He wanted to avenge what he felt was atrocities by Israel against the Palestinians.
Investigators were still working to determine on Thursday if the suspect was directed or connected to a terrorist group. So far, they have not found any link, and it appears Rodriguez was acting alone.
Dorothy Tucker
Dorothy Tucker is a Chicago native, raised in Chicago's Lawndale and Austin communities. She has been a reporter for CBS2 Chicago since 1984. She is a reporter on the station's 2 Investigator team and is also president of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Pat Milton contributed to this report.