Two Israeli embassy staff killed in Washington shooting; lone suspect held
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WASHINGTON – Two Israeli embassy staff – a young couple about to be engaged – were killed by a lone gunman in Washington, DC, on the night of May 21, and a suspect who chanted pro-Palestine slogans is in custody, officials said.
The two were shot and killed as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum, which is in a part of downtown Washington about 2km from the White House.
Washington Metropolitan police chief Pamela Smith said a man shot at a group of four people with a handgun, hitting both the victims.
He was seen pacing outside the museum prior to the shooting.
The Israeli foreign ministry named the victims as Mr Yaron Lischinsky and Ms Sarah Lynn Milgrim, and said they were both locally employed staff.
The police chief said the suspect, identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, chanted, “Free Palestine, free Palestine” after being taken into custody, she said.
“After the shooting, the suspect entered the museum and was detained by event security,” she said.
“Once in handcuffs, the suspect identified where he discarded the weapon, and that weapon has been recovered, and he implied that he committed the offence.”
The suspect had no previous contact with the police, she added.
Dr Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the US, told reporters the young man killed had “purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem”.
US President Donald Trump condemned the shooting.
“These horrible DC killings, based obviously on anti-Semitism, must end, NOW!” he said in a message on Truth Social. “Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his heart ached for the families of the victims, “whose lives were cut short in a moment by an abhorrent anti-Semitic murderer”.
“We are witness to the terrible cost of the anti-Semitism and wild incitement against the State of Israel. Blood libels against Israel have a cost in blood and must be fought to the utmost,” he said in a statement posted on X.
Security would be stepped up at Israeli embassies around the world, he said.
Police officers working at the site where two victims were shot dead in Washington, DC, on May 21. A suspect is in custody.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Political backdrop
The shootings could result in Mr Netanyahu and his far-right partners taking a harder line in the conflict in Gaza as well as generate sympathy for Israel from Western allies who were piling pressure on him to ease the aid blockade in the war-ravaged territory.
The May 21 shooting is also certain to further convulse the US debate over the war in Gaza, which has polarised steadfast supporters of Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
Conservative Israel supporters led by Mr Trump have branded pro-Palestinian demonstrators as anti-Semitic.
Mr Trump has cut off funding to elite US universities that he says have permitted anti-Semitic demonstrations, and his administration has detained foreign student demonstrators without charges.
Deputy Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Dan Bongino said the suspect was being interviewed by the police and the FBI.
“Early indicators are that this is an act of targeted violence,” he said in a post on X. “Our FBI team is fully engaged and we will get you answers as soon as we can, without compromising additional leads.”
The event at the Capital Jewish Museum was held by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that supports Israel and confronts anti-Semitism, according to its website.
An online invitation to the event called it the Young Diplomats Reception, describing it as a bringing together of Jewish professionals between the ages of 22 and 45, and the Washington diplomatic community.
The German-Israeli Society said Mr Lischinsky had grown up in Bavaria, Germany, and spoke fluent German.
“We remember him as an open-minded, intelligent and deeply committed person whose interest in German-Israeli relations and ways to achieve peaceful coexistence in the Middle East brightened the environment around him,” said the society’s president, Mr Volker Beck.
Hours after the shooting, several people gathered at the scene, in the area of Third and F Streets, including one who knelt on the ground at the intersection with a modified Israeli flag draped over his shoulders.
Two victims were killed near a part of downtown Washington that is about 2km from the White House. A man shot at a group of four people, hitting both the victims.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Mr Aaron Shemtov, who is studying at a rabbinical college in California, said he came to the museum to show support.
“When a member of the community gets murdered and gets killed for who he is, we stand proud, we stand strong, and we never give up,” Mr Shemtov said.
Rabbi Levi Shemtov, who was also at the scene, said the couple had attended his Washington synagogue occasionally.
“It’s very sad to see that instead of these people coming to the ultimate celebration of their life – they were about to get engaged – they get shot dead in the street just because of who they are,” said the rabbi, who is also the executive vice-president of the Jewish group American Friends of Lubavitch.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the shooting was a direct result of “toxic anti-Semitic incitement against Israel and Jews around the world” since the attack on Israel by Hamas militants in October 2023 that prompted the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
Rights advocates have noted both rising anti-Semitism and anti-Arab hate in the US since then.
Such incidents have included an unsuccessful plot to attack a New York Jewish centre, an arson attack on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence and attacks on Florida businesses perceived as pro-Israel.
Incidents linked to anti-Palestinian prejudice have included the fatal stabbing of a six-year-old Palestinian American boy in Illinois, the attempted drowning of a three-year-old Palestinian American girl in Texas, a New York City assault by a pro-Israeli mob that chanted, “Death to Arabs” and a violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters in California. REUTERS
