The gunman who opened fire outside the Capital Jewish Museum in downtown Washington DC on Wednesday night, killing two employees of the Israeli Embassy and injuring several others, has been detained.
The suspect, a 30-year-old man, was taken into custody at the scene. According to Police Chief Pamela A. Smith, the attacker shouted “Free Palestine” during his arrest. The victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgram, served in key roles at the embassy and were engaged to be married.
Last night Elias Rodriguez, 30 shot dead 2 Israeli embassy staffers, Yaron Lischinsky & Sarah Milgram at the Capital Jewish Museum event in Washington, DC.
The man is believed to be on the far-left having attended a protest of then-Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel as a member of the… pic.twitter.com/wAfCJ4qJE0
— David Atherton (@DaveAtherton20) May 22, 2025
The couple had just left an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee when the gunman opened fire, killing them both. According to Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, Lischinsky had planned to propose to Milgram next week.
Lischinsky, a research assistant in the embassy’s political department focusing on Middle East and North African affairs, immigrated to Israel from Germany at the age of 16. On his LinkedIn profile, he described himself as “proud to call both Jerusalem and Nuremberg home,” and expressed deep commitment to the Abraham Accords and the expansion of peace and cooperation in the Middle East.
Milgram, who worked in the embassy’s public diplomacy division, was a graduate of the University for Peace in Costa Rica. She wrote of her passion for the intersection of peacemaking, religious values, and environmental stewardship. Before joining the diplomatic service, Milgram worked in Tel Aviv with Tech2Peace, an initiative providing high-tech training to Arabs and Jews.
In a statement posted to social media, the Israeli Embassy said, “The embassy staff is shocked and heartbroken by the deaths of Yaron and Sarah. They were in the prime of their lives when a terrorist shot them to death as they were leaving an event at the Jewish Museum in Washington. Words cannot express the depth of our sorrow and horror at this terrible loss.”
The shooting, which occurred shortly after 9:15 PM local time, is being investigated as a possible antisemitic hate crime. Federal authorities are working closely with local law enforcement and Israeli officials as the investigation unfolds.
President Donald J. Trump, posting on his Truth Social platform, condemned the attack as “antisemitism.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a statement on Twitter, called the incident “a brazen act of cowardly, antisemitic violence” and vowed to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.
CBS News reported that multiple other embassy personnel were injured in the attack. The identities of the victims have not yet been released, pending notification of their families.
