WASHINGTON – Two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington — a young couple on the verge of becoming engaged — were fatally shot Wednesday evening while leaving an event at a Jewish museum, and the suspect yelled, “Free, free Palestine” after he was arrested, police said.
The attack was seen by officials in Israel and the U.S. as the latest in a growing wave of antisemitism as Israel ramps up its offensive in the Gaza Strip, and as food security experts have warned that Gaza risks falling into famine unless Israel’s blockade ends.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said the man who was killed had purchased a ring this week with the intent to propose next week in Jerusalem.
Here’s what we know:
What happened?
The two victims, a man and a woman, were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum around 9:15 p.m. Wednesday when the suspect approached a group of four people and opened fire, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.
The suspect was observed pacing outside the museum before the shooting, walked into the museum after the shooting and was detained by event security, Smith said.
When he was taken into custody, the suspect began chanting, “Free, free Palestine,” Smith said. She said law enforcement did not believe there was an ongoing threat to the community.
The violence occurred following the American Jewish Committee’s annual Young Diplomats reception at the museum.
Who is the suspect?
The suspect has been identified as Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago.
It was not immediately clear whether Rodriguez had an attorney who could comment on his behalf. A telephone number listed in public records rang unanswered.
He was being interviewed early Thursday by D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department as well as the FBI. The U.S. attorney in Washington will prosecute the case.
Who are the victims?
They were identified as Yaron Lischinsky, an Israeli citizen, and Sarah Milgrim, an American woman — a young couple about to be engaged.
“Sarah and Yaron were stolen from us,” said Ted Deutch, the chief executive of the AJC, the advocacy organization whose event the couple attended before they were killed. “Moments before they were murdered, they were smiling, laughing, and enjoying an event with colleagues and friends. We are in shock and heartbroken as we attempt to process this immense tragedy.”
He described Milgrim, from Overland Park, Kansas, as “warm and compassionate, committed to peace building and passionate about sustainability and people-to-people relations.” And he said Lischinsky was a staff member of the embassy’s political department who focused on Middle East issues and who at the event told others that he was eager to return to Israel to be with his family for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.
What is 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 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.
Witnesses to the attack
Yoni Kalin and Katie Kalisher were inside the museum when they heard gunshots and a man came inside looking distressed, they said. Kalin said people came to the man’s aid and brought him water, thinking he needed help, without realizing he was the suspect. When police arrived, he pulled out a red keffiyeh and repeatedly yelled, “Free Palestine,’” Kalin said.
“This event was about humanitarian aid,” 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.”
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.
Israel’s new campaign in Gaza
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 Oct. 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 doesn’t differentiate between combatants and civilians.
The fighting has displaced 90% of the territory’s roughly 2 million population, sparked a hunger crisis and obliterated vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape. Aid groups ran out of food to distribute weeks ago, and most of the population of around 2.3 million relies on communal kitchens whose supplies are nearly depleted.
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The story has been updated to correct the suspect’s age to 31 from 30, based on updated information from law enforcement.
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