Israeli embassy staffers shot dead near Jewish museum in Washington DC

Two staff members of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC were shot and killed while leaving an event at a Jewish museum, police said.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim.

They were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday evening when the suspect approached a group of four people and opened fire, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.

The suspect is understood to have yelled “Free, free Palestine” after he was arrested.

The attack has sent shockwaves around the world and prompted Israeli missions to beef up their security.

The suspect, identified as Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, was observed pacing outside the museum before the shooting and he then walked into the museum where he was detained by security, Ms Smith said.

Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky who were killed in Washington. Picture: IsraelinUSA/X

When he was taken into custody, the suspect began chanting, “Free, free Palestine,” Ms Smith added.

She said law enforcement did not believe there was an ongoing threat to the community.

“These horrible DC killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!” US President Donald Trump posted on social media early on Thursday.

“Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.” 

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it was "a horrific, horrific event".

"I want to condemn unreservedly the appalling murder of a couple in Washington last evening," adding that "there can be no place for such violence in our society".

Tánaiste and foreign affairs minister Simon Harris said a young Irish diplomat — a woman — was at the event where the attack occurred.

Mr Harris said he condemned in “the strongest possible terms” the “brutal” antisemitic murders of the two individuals — a young couple about to be engaged.

Israel’s reaction 

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Thursday that he was “shocked” by the “horrific, antisemitic” shooting.

“We are witnessing the terrible price of antisemitism and wild incitement against Israel,” he said in a statement.

Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter said the two people killed were a young couple about to be engaged, saying Mr Lischinsky had purchased a ring this week with the intent to propose next week in Jerusalem.

Former Israeli Ambassador to the US Mike Herzog told Israeli Army Radio that Ms Milgrim was an American employee of the embassy and Mr Lischinsky was Israeli.

Law enforcement work the scene after two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum. Picture: AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr

Attorney general Pam Bondi said she was at the scene with former judge Jeanine Pirro, who serves as the US attorney in Washington and whose office would prosecute the case.

The statement from Mr Netanyahu’s office said he spoke to Ms Bondi, who told him Mr Trump was “involved in managing the incident” and the US would bring the perpetrator to justice.

It was not immediately clear whether Rodriguez had an lawyer who could comment on his behalf.

A telephone number listed in public records rang unanswered.

Dan Bongino, deputy director of the FBI, wrote in a post on social media that “early indicators are that this is an act of targeted violence”.

The influential pan-Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera aired on a loop what appeared to be mobile phone footage of the alleged gunman, wearing a suit jacket and slacks, being pulled away after the shooting, his hands behind his back.

The shooting comes as Israel has launched a new campaign targeting Hamas in the Gaza Strip in a war that has set tensions aflame across the wider Middle East.

The war began with the Palestinian militant group Hamas coming out of Gaza on October 7, 2023 to kill 1,200 people and take some 250 hostages back to the coastal enclave.

In the time since, Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza has killed more than 53,000 people, mostly women and children, according to local health authorities, whose count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.

The fighting has displaced 90% of the territory’s roughly two million population, sparked a hunger crisis and obliterated vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape.

'In cold blood'

Yoni Kalin and Katie Kalisher were inside the museum when they heard gunshots and a man came inside looking distressed, they said.

Mr Kalin said people came to his aid and brought him water, thinking he needed help, without realising he was the suspect.

When police arrived, he pulled out a red keffiyeh and repeatedly yelled, “Free Palestine,’” Mr Kalin said.

A Washington DC Metro police office carries an evidence bag to his car. Picture: AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr

“This event was about humanitarian aid,” Mr Kalin said. “How can we actually help both the people in Gaza and the people in Israel?

“How can we bring together Muslims and Jews and Christians to work together to actually help innocent people? And then here he is just murdering two people in cold blood.” 

Last week, the Capital Jewish Museum was one of the local non-profits in Washington DC awarded funding from a $500,000 grant programme to increase its security.

The museum’s leaders were concerned because it is a Jewish organisation and due to its new LGBT exhibit, according to NBC4 Washington.

“We recognise that there are threats associated with this as well,” executive director Beatrice Gurwitz told the TV station.

“And again, we want to ensure that our space is as welcoming and secure for everybody who comes here while we are exploring these stories.” 

In response to the shooting, the museum said in a statement that they are “deeply saddened and horrified by the senseless violence outside the Museum this evening”.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington chief executive Gil Preuss said in a statement that he was horrified by the shooting and mourned the loss of the two people killed.

“Our hearts are with their families and loved ones, and with all of those who are impacted by this tragic act of antisemitic violence,” he said.

Israeli diplomats in the past have been targeted by violence, both by state-backed assailants and Palestinian militants over the decades of the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict that grew out of the founding of Israel in 1948.

The Palestinians seek Gaza and the West Bank for a future state, with east Jerusalem as its capital — lands Israel captured in the 1967 war.

However, the peace process between the sides has been stalled for years.