Two Israeli Embassy staffers killed in shooting near Jewish Museum in D.C.

A young couple who worked for the Israeli Embassy was shot dead near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington D.C. late Wednesday by a gunman who chanted “free, free Palestine” after the shooting, according to authorities. A suspect was in custody.

They were exiting the museum in Northwest Washington after attending an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee when the gunman opened fire, authorities said.

The state of Israel’s X account identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim. Israeli government officials said Thursday that Lischinsky was a research assistant in the Israeli Embassy’s political department and that Milgrim organized missions and visits to Israel.

Lischinsky and Milgrim were “in the prime of their lives” and planning to get married, said the Israeli Embassy and its spokeswoman Tal Naim. “Instead of walking you down the aisle, we are walking with you to your graves,” Naim said Thursday on X.

Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, told reporters that Lischinsky had recently purchased a ring and planned to propose to Milgrim.

The shooting will be investigated as a possible hate crime, Steven J. Jensen, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office, said during a news conference hours after the shooting. Israeli officials on Thursday referred to the killings as a “terrorist” attack motivated by antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiments.

Both victims were found unconscious and not breathing at the scene, D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith told reporters during the news conference.

Smith said police believed the shooting was carried out by one person and that a suspect, whom she said was “tentatively identified” as Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, was in custody.

Rodriguez was observed pacing back and forth outside the museum before the incident, she said. After allegedly shooting the couple, he entered the museum, where he was detained by security, she said. Police initially said at the news conference that Rodriguez was 30, but later confirmed he is 31.

Asked whether her department had any indication that such an attack would occur, Smith said police had not received intelligence “with respect to any type of terrorist act or hate crime.” She added that D.C. police had no previous interaction with Rodriguez. “We don’t see anything in his background that would have put him on our radar at this time.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Thursday said the shooting was a direct consequence of antisemitism and anti-Israel incitement, including from some world leaders.

Saar said that public statements about Israel’s complicity in “genocide, crimes against humanity, and murdering babies paved the way exactly for such murders.”

Without naming specific countries, Saar said: “I say today to these leaders and officials: Stop your incitement against Israel. Stop your false accusations.”

After Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 people hostage in a cross-border attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel launched a retaliatory war in the Gaza Strip. More than 53,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

This week, after an 11-week blockade of the territory, Israel announced abruptly that it would allow a minimal amount of food into Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing the move as one he was forced to make to placate allies who are worried about mass starvation.

Saar added that he spoke with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and received an update on “the intensive investigations underway by several government agencies” into the shooting.

Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, said during the news conference that President Donald Trump had called him to say that his administration would “do everything it can possibly do to fight and end antisemitism.”

In a subsequent social media post, Trump said: “These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”

Dan Bongino, the deputy director of the FBI, said on social media that he believed the crime was “an act of targeted violence.” Rodriguez was being interviewed by D.C. police and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, he said.

Police believe the suspect targeted the event but had not singled out any individual before arriving at the scene, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. “He just got whoever came out at that moment,” the person said.

Netanyahu said in a statement that his “heart aches for the families of the beloved young man and woman, whose lives were cut short in an instant by a vile antisemitic murderer.” He said he had ordered enhanced security at Israeli diplomatic missions worldwide.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the incident as “a despicable act of hatred, of antisemitism.” Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, in a social media post denounced the shooting as “a depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism,” and said Israel was confident that U.S. authorities would “take strong action against those responsible.”

Ted Deutch, chief executive of the American Jewish Committee, said he was “devastated that an unspeakable act of violence took place outside the venue.”

“We are actively investigating and working to get more information to share,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem said in a post on social media. “Please pray for the families of the victims. We will bring this depraved perpetrator to justice.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said she had visited the scene with the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, who will be prosecuting the case.

“All of our federal agencies will work hand in hand” with the D.C. police department, Bondi said at the news conference. “We will follow the facts. We will follow the law, and this defendant … will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”