What we know about the Israeli embassy in Washington DC

A young couple who worked for the Israeli embassy was shot in front of a Jewish museum in Washington DC.

The police say the victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were killed by a man who screamed “Free, Free Palestine” during his arrest. Elias Rodriguez was charged with the first degree murder.

You need to know the following about the shootout.

On Wednesday at 9:08 p.m. local time, the police received calls via a shootout outside of the Capital Jewish Museum in downtown Washington DC.

A man and a woman were found passed out and did not breathe at the crime scene and died later.

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said that the couple had left an event in the museum, which is located in an area with tourist resorts, museums and government buildings.

The police claim that the shootout was celebrated by Elias Rodriguez (31) from Chicago.

He was seen up and down in front of the museum before using a pistol to fire a group of four people, said the MPD.

The suspect then went to the museum, where he was arrested. He repeatedly called “Free Palestine” while he was arrested, the police said.

Some in the museum initially thought he had Was a desperate viewer When he broke out.

A witness, Yoni Kalin, said that the people inside “calmed him down, gave him water and took care of him”.

“We knew little that he was someone who executed people with cold blood,” he said.

The MPD and the FBI examine the attack as an act of terrorism and as a hate crime.

Yaron Lischinsky (30) and Sarah Lynn Milgrim (26) both worked in the Israeli embassy in Washington DC.

Mr. Lischinsky had planned to propose Miss Milgrim in Jerusalem next week, said Israel’s ambassador in the USA, Yechiel Head, on Thursday.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Yaron Lischinsky, a common German-Israelian citizen, had worked as a research assistant at the message.

He was born in Germany and moved to Israel as a teenager before moving to Washington, his friend Ronen Shoval said.

He was a “pious Christian” with “good character”, said Shoval of the BBC.

He had previously served with the Israeli military, said Israel’s ambassador in Germany, Ron Prosor.

Sarah Lynn Milgrim, an American from Kansas, worked according to her LinkedIn page for the public diplomacy department of the Israeli embassy.

Her father, Robert, told the US partner of the BBC, CBS News that his daughter loved “Israel” and “loved everyone who lived in the Middle East”.

“She had many close Palestinian friends and many Israeli friends,” he said.

Ku Hillel, a Jewish student organization at the University of Kansas, said Miss Milgrim was a “beloved alum” with a “bright spirit”.

The Israeli message said that its employees were “broken with broken hearts and destroyed” due to the deaths.

Elias Rodriguez was charged with murder on the first degree in relation to the shootout.

He was also charged with the murder of foreign civil servants, death with a firearm and the discharge of a firearm in a violent crime.

According to an affidavit, the suspect flew from Chicago on Tuesday and explained a weapon that was legally bought in his certified luggage in Illinois.

The authorities say that the examination has not yet been completed and that further charges against him could be raised in the course of development.

The preliminary DC lawyer Jeanine Pirro said that it was too early to say whether the public prosecutor will obtain the death penalty, but that this was a “death penalty of eligible case”.

The suspect will be held in custody and will appear in court on June 18 for a preliminary hearing, Pirro added.

It is believed that he acted alone, said the US general Prosecutor Pam Bondi.

On Thursday, the FBI in Chicago, which was linked to the suspect, was looking for.

Outside the apartment, neighbor John Wayne Fry said that he lived in the same house as the suspect for about a year.

He said that the suspect showed a photo outside of his apartment of a Palestinian-American child, which was stabbed outside of Chicago in 2023.

The murder caused international headlines. The man who killed the six -year -old Wade Alfayoumi was convicted of hate crushing accusations in the early this month. Officials say that he is motivated by hatred of Islam and the conflict in Gaza.

It is unclear whether the suspect had direct contact with the boy’s family.

Fry said he did not talk to the suspect about politics, but said: “If I had done it, I would have spoken it from it.”

The suspect has worked at the American Osteopathic Information Association since 2024.

Social media reports that belong to him show that he was heavily involved in the propalestinic protest movement.

An online story showed that he was associated with a communist group of the party for socialism and liberation in 2017 and was interviewed as a member of the group.

In a post on X, the party said “had nothing to do with this shootout and not to support it” and has had no contact with the suspect for seven years.

The police said they had no previous interactions with the suspect and had not seen anything in his background “which would have brought him to our radar”.

The event in the Capital Jewish Museum was invoiced as a networking opportunity to bring Jewish young specialists together and the diplomatic community together.

The organizer, American Jewish Committee, said it was open to those in the diplomatic DC community. The topic of the event was advertised as “pain in the purpose”.

In the event description, humanitarian organizers were invited to respond to crises in the Middle East, including Gaza.

The place was only shared with those who had registered for participation.

President Donald Trump convicted the attack and called him anti -Semitic.

He posted truth social on his social media platform and said: “This terrible DC murder, which obviously is based on anti -Semitism, now have to end!

“Hate and radicalism have no place in the United States. Confuse to the families of the victims.

“So sad that things like this can happen! God bless you all!”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he was “outraged by the terrible anti -Semitic murder of the victims”.

His office said he spoke to the parents of both victims.

“My heart mourns the family of the young Beloveds, whose life was demolished by a hideous anti -Semitic murderer at a moment,” he said, adding that he had instructed the Israeli messages around the world to increase security.

He and the Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also said that the deaths were caused by “anti-Israeli pitches” that were carried out by the European leaders.

At the beginning of this week, the leaders of Britain, France and Canadas signulated a strongly formulated joint letter Constitution of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

In a video address, Netanyahu Association in Washington Murders Murders with Hamas October 7, 2023 on Israel.

“When he was taken away, he sang: ‘Free Palestine!’ This is exactly the same singing that we heard on October 7, “said Netanyahu.

He accused Keir Starrer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney, “to encourage Hamas to fight further and further” by asking Israel to end his war in Gaza.

Israel started a military campaign in Gaza in response to the cross -border attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Since then, at least 53,475 people have been killed in Gaza in Gaza, including 3,340 since the Territory Ministry of Health, since the Israeli offensive.

Additional reporting from Shayan Sardarizade, BBC confirm