Two Israeli embassy staff were shot dead outside the Capital Jewish Museum in downtown Washington DC yesterday evening. The victims, named as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were shot while leaving an event at the museum organised by the advocacy group American Jewish Committee (AJC).
Tal Naim Cohen, an Israeli embassy spokesperson, said in a statement on X: “Two staff members of the Israeli embassy were shot this evening at close range while attending a Jewish event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC. We have full faith in law enforcement authorities on both the local and federal levels to apprehend the shooter and protect Israel’s representatives and Jewish communities throughout the United States.”
The suspect has been identified by police as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez who was seen “pacing back and forth outside of the museum”, said Pamela Smith, chief of the Metropolitan Police Department at a press conference following the shooting. Smith said that the suspect “approached a group of four people, produced a handgun and opened fire striking both of our decedents”.
Jojo Kalin, a board member of the American Jewish Committee, told the BBC Today programme that following the shooting, the attacker entered the museum. Kalin gave him some water but “at that point, ‘he whips out his red Jordanian keffiyeh and he yells free Palestine’,” she said.
Kalin adds that the event, advertised as the AJC annual Young Diplomats reception, was about building coalitions in the Middle East, saying “it's deeply ironic that what we were discussing was bridge building and then we were all hit over the head with such hatred”.
According to its website, the American Jewish Committee is an advocacy group that supports Israel and confronts anti semitism. President Donald Trump said meanwhile on social media: “Hatred and radicalism have no place in the USA.”
The museum, which is known as the Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum, “explores the Jewish experience in the national capital region”, says the institution website. Its collection comprises archival documents and photographs that trace the Jewish community in Washington DC, suburban Maryland, and Northern Virginia from the 1850s to the present day. Its latest exhibition, LGBTJews in the Federal City, opened 16 May.
The museum has been approached for comment.
