Israeli Embassy staffers shot dead outside D.C.’s Capital Jewish Museum

Two staff members of Israel’s Embassy in Washington, D.C., were shot dead outside the district’s Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday night, officials said.

The suspect shouted “Free, free Palestine” while in police custody and “implied” that he committed the shooting, Washington Police Chief Pamela Smith said. He was identified as Elias Rodriguez, in his early 30s, of Chicago.

In custody, he told authorities where he discarded the weapon, Smith added. Mayor Muriel Bowser said there was no active threat to the community following the arrest.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has directed security increases for Israeli missions and representatives around the world.

He offered his condolences to the victims, saying, “My heart grieves for the families of the young beloveds, whose lives were cut short in a moment by an abhorrent antisemitic murderer.”

The victims were leaving the museum, where an event was being held, when they were gunned down around 9 p.m., Smith said. Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, confirmed in a statement that the group was hosting the gathering.

The man had been pacing back and forth outside the museum when he approached a group of four and opened fire using a handgun, Smith said. He then entered the building, where he was detained by security, she said.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, Tal Naim Cohen, described the victims as two staff members, adding that they “were shot this evening at close range while attending a Jewish event.”

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, called the incident a “depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.”

“Harming the Jewish community is crossing a red line,” he said on X.

The shooting comes more than 18 months after Israel launched a bombing campaign and ground invasion in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas militants, in which more than 1,200 people were killed and hundreds more were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s counteroffensive has killed more than 53,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. International aid groups and governments have also warned of the risk of famine in the enclave. Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel would allow a limited amount of humanitarian aid to flow in following a three-month blockade.

“Free Palestine” has become a popular refrain among supporters of the Palestinian cause.

The victims were not immediately identified by name. Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, said they were a couple on a night out.

“The couple that was gunned down tonight in the name of ‘Free Palestine’ is a young couple about to be engaged,” he said at a late-night news conference. “The young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem.”

President Donald Trump condemned the violence.

“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA. Condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things as this can happen!” he said on social media.

Attorney General Pam Bondi offered prayers to the victims on X.

“We’ll be doing everything in our power to keep all citizens safe, especially tonight our Jewish community,” Bondi said at the news conference. She added that Jeanine Pirro, the interim U.S. attorney for Washington, will prosecute the case.

Other U.S. officials also decried the shooting. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the victims were “senselessly killed,” and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is Jewish, called it “another horrific instance of antisemitism which as we know is all too rampant in our society.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency was working with police to learn more and asked for prayers for the victims and their families.

Steve Jensen, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office, said his team was working to pin down whether the shooting may have been hate-motivated or potentially an act of terrorism.