A suspect has been detained after two members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington were shot and killed on May 21 while leaving an event at a Jewish museum, police said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim. Lischinsky was a research assistant, and Milgrim organized visits and missions to Israel, he said.
The victims were leaving the Capital Jewish Museum and were in the area of 3rd and F streets in Northwest when the suspect approached a group of four people and opened fire, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.
The victims were a young couple who were about to be engaged to be married, according to Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter. He said the man had purchased a ring this week with the intent to propose next week in Jerusalem.
Smith identified the suspect as Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago. She said the suspect was seen pacing outside the museum before the shooting.
Rodriguez walked into the museum after the shooting and was detained by event security, Smith said. He was chanting “Free Palestine, Free Palestine” when taken into custody, she said.
The suspect had no previous contact with police, she added.
FBI Director Kash Patel said he and his team had been briefed on the shooting.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem condemned the shooting.
“Two Israeli Embassy staff were senselessly killed tonight near the Jewish Museum in Washington DC. We are actively investigating and working to get more information to share,” Noem said in a post on X. “Please pray for the families of the victims.”
“We will bring this depraved perpetrator to justice,” Noem added.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X that she was at the scene of the crime alongside U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the top prosecutor in the District of Columbia.
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, called the shooting a “depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.”
“Harming the Jewish community is crossing a red line. We are confident that the US authorities will take strong action against those responsible for this criminal act,” Danon said in a post on X. “Israel will continue to act resolutely to protect its citizens and representatives—everywhere in the world.”
President Donald Trump expressed his condolences for the families of the victims.
“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he was “devastated” by the shooting.
“This is a despicable act of hatred, of anti-Semitism, which has claimed the lives of two young employees of the Israeli embassy. Our hearts are with the loved ones of those murdered and our immediate prayers are with the injured. I send my full support to the Ambassador and all the embassy staff.”
He added: “We stand with the Jewish community in DC and across the US. America and Israel will stand united in defense of our people and our shared values. Terror and hate will not break us.”
It was not immediately clear whether Rodriguez had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
The Epoch Times has reached out to the Metropolitan Police and the FBI for further information.
The shooting comes as Israel has launched a new campaign aimed at seizing “operational control” of more of the Gaza Strip amid its ongoing war with Hamas.
The conflict began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas incursion into Israel, during which the terrorist group killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages.
Since then more than 52,800 Palestinians, many of them women and children, have been killed in the war in Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.
