Shooting of Israeli embassy staff in Washington: What we know so far

Two staff members of the Israeli embassy were fatally shot Wednesday evening while leaving an event at a Jewish museum in Washington, with police saying the suspect yelled “Free, free Palestine” after he was arrested.

The attack was seen by officials in Israel and the US 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.

Here’s what we know:

The two victims, a man and a woman, were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum around 9:15pm 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 suspect has been identified as Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago.

Follow our liveblogNetanyahu ‘shocked’ by killing of 2 staff members of Israeli embassy in Washington

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 DC’s Metropolitan Police Department as well as the FBI. The US attorney in Washington will prosecute the case.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim.

Yaron and Sarah,
Words cannot begin to describe the heartbreak and sorrow. Just this morning, we were still laughing together by the coffee corner — and now, all that remains is a picture.
Instead of walking you down the aisle, we are walking with you to your graves.
What an… pic.twitter.com/MNmsb6Y40R

— Tal Naim (@TalNaim_) May 22, 2025

Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter said the young couple was about to be engaged, saying the man 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 the woman killed was an American employee of the embassy and the man was Israeli.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Thursday that he was “shocked” by the “horrific, anti-Semitic” shooting.

“We are witnessing the terrible price of anti-Semitism 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.

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 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,” 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.”

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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 Oct. 7, 2023, to kill 1,200 people and take some 250 hostages back to the coastal enclave.