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Two Israeli embassy staff were shot outside of a Jewish museum in the center of Washington DC by a man who says the police said “Free, Free Palestine” after the attack.
The victims, a young couple, were shot while leaving an event in the Capital Jewish Museum, said the DC police, adding that the incident seems targeted.
The shooting took place at 9:05 PM Local time (01:05 GMT) in an area with numerous tourist locations, museums and government buildings, including the FBIs Washington Field Office.
After the suspect, who was held by the authorities, opened the fire, he walked into the museum and was stopped by security, said Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith.
The suspect, Elias Rodriguez, 30, from Chicago, was seen outside the museum before she opened fire on a group of four – killing the couple, Chief Smith said at a press conference.
Israeli ambassador in the US Yechiel Leiter shared during the conference that had been the killing of the couple to get involved.
Leiter said that the male victim had bought a ring this week and was planning to propose a trip they had planned to Jerusalem. The names of the victims have not been released.
“We heard gunshots and then a man really looked forward. We thought he needed help,” said eyewitnesses Katisher to the BBC, referring to the suspect.
Jojo Kalin, a board member of the American Jewish committee that helped in organizing the event, said she witnessed the shooting, but felt a “feeling of guilt” about what happened.
“I am not going to lose my humanity or are being put off. And that Israelis and Palestinians both still earn self -determination and (it) is just deep ironic that we discussed that,” she said.
US President Donald Trump suggested that the murders were driven by anti -Semitism.
“These terrible DC murders, clearly based on anti -Semitism, have to end, now! Hate and radicalism have no place in the US,” he wrote on the social platform of the truth.
The American State Secretary Marco Rubio said on X: “This was a brutal act of cowardly, anti -Semitic violence. Make no mistake: we will detect the responsible persons and bring it to court.”
The ambassador of Israel in the United Nations called the incident a “corrupt act of anti -Semitic terrorism”.
“Diplomats damage and the Jewish community exceeds a red line,” wrote ambassador Danny Danon on X. “We are convinced that the American authorities will take strong action against those responsible for this criminal act.”
The incident led to a major reaction from the police and concluded various core streets in the city.
A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy confirmed that two employees were “up close” while attending the event in the museum.
“We have full faith in law enforcement agencies at both local and federal level to … The representatives of Israel and the Jewish communities in the United States,” said spokesperson for Tal Cohen.
The Israeli ambassador was reportedly not at the museum event at the time of the shooting, US Media reported.
The DC campus of the University of Georgetown was also temporarily locked up, according to CBS.
“When we left to leave the police and the security were down and told us that we cannot leave,” said a student, who had been resolved in their building for more than an hour.
The American ambassador in Israel Mike Huckabee has posted X to call the attack a “horrible terrorist act that wakes up the people of Israel this morning”.
The Capital Jewish Museum, as many other Jewish institutions in the US have struggled with safety issues in the midst of increasing anti -Semitism.
“Jewish institutions throughout the city, throughout the country, are concerned about safety because of a number of very scary incidents with which some institutions have had to deal with and because of a climate of anti -Semitism,” executive director Beatrice Gurwitz NBC News told In a separate news item before the attack on Wednesday.
The museum recently received a subsidy to partially upgrade its security, she said, because of a new exhibition about LGBT pride.
“We acknowledge that there are also threats,” said Mrs. Gurwitz. “And again, we want to ensure that our space is just as hospitable and safe for everyone who comes here while we explore these stories.”
