Defence Minister Rajnath Singh

“The young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem,” Leiter revealed.What do we know about the suspect, Elias Rodriguez?

The suspect has been identified as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, Illinois. Following his arrest, his home was searched by police.Rodriguez has been charged with two counts of murder, causing death with a firearm and discharging a firearm in a crime of violence.Jeanine Pirro, the interim US Attorney who was recently appointed by President Donald Trump as federal prosecutor in Washington, told reporters the charges against Ridriguez constitute a “death penalty-eligible case”.

“We are going to continue to investigate this as a hate crime and as a crime of terrorism,” Pirro said.Reporting from close to the site of the shooting, Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro said the suspect was not previously on the radar of local authorities.

“He was not a known entity. There was no heightened alert prior to this happening,” she said.

What do we know about the suspect’s motive?Trump focused on the white farmers, particularly Afrikaners – the descendants of mainly Dutch settlers who instituted apartheid. He alleged they are being killed because of their race despite evidence showing that attacks and killings are common across all groups in the country.

Trump also mentioned South Africa’sthat allows land in the public interest to be taken without compensation in exceptional circumstances in an effort to redress apartheid injustices. Pretoria said no white land has been taken, but the US said the law unfairly targets minority white South Africans who are the majority landholders.

Despite Pretoria consistently seeking to rectify false assertions, the Trump administration has pushed ahead with a plan to take in Afrikaners as refugees. Thearrived last week. He has also cut aid, including vital support for