Two Israeli embassy staffers killed in Washington shooting
According to officials, a suspect is in custody after a lone shooter killed two Israeli embassy employees, a young couple who were about to get engaged, as they were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, on Wednesday night.
In Northwest, a neighborhood in central Washington that is roughly 1.3 miles (2 km) from the White House, the two were shot and killed near the intersection of 3rd and F Streets.
According to Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith, two victims were injured when a man brandished a handgun at a group of four people. Before the shooting, he was observed pacing outside the museum.
The single suspect, tentatively identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, chanted “Free Palestine, Free Palestine,” after being taken into custody, she said.
“After the shooting, the suspect entered the museum and was detained by event security,” Smith said. “Once in handcuffs, the suspect identified where he discarded the weapon, and that weapon has been recovered, and he implied that he committed the offense.”
The suspect had no previous contact with police, she added.
Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., told reporters the young man killed had “purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem.”
The shooting was denounced by President Donald Trump. “These terrible murders in D.C., which are clearly motivated by antisemitism, have to stop immediately!” he wrote in a message on Truth Social. “Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, expressed shock at the murders.
“My heart aches for the families of the beloved young man and woman, whose lives were cut short by a heinous anti-Semitic murderer,” he stated in a statement. “I have instructed to strengthen security arrangements at Israeli missions around the world and security for state representatives.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also condemned the incident, while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on X: “We will bring this depraved perpetrator to justice.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro went to the scene after the shooting.
Deputy FBI Director Don Bongino said the suspect was being interviewed by the police and the FBI.
“Early indicators are that this is an act of targeted violence,” he said in a post on X. “Our FBI team is fully engaged and we will get you answers as soon as we can, without compromising additional leads.”
DIPLOMATS RECEPTION
The event at the Capital Jewish Museum was held by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that supports Israel and confronts antisemitism, according to its website.
An online invitation to the event called it the Young Diplomats Reception, describing it as a bringing together of Jewish professionals between the ages of 22 and 45 and the Washington diplomatic community.
Despite the late hour, several people gathered at the scene of the shooting, including one who knelt on the ground at the intersection with an improvised Israeli flag draped over his shoulders.
Aaron Shemtov, who is studying at a rabbinical college in California, said he came to the museum to show support after hearing of the shooting.
“When a member of the community gets murdered and gets killed for who he is, we stand proud, we stand strong, and we never give up,” Shemtov said.
Rabbi Levi Shemtov, who was also at the scene, said the couple had attended his Washington synagogue occasionally.
“It’s very sad to see that instead of these people coming to the ultimate celebration of their life – they were about to get engaged – they get shot dead in the street just because of who they are,” said the rabbi, who is also the executive vice president of the Jewish group American Friends of Lubavitch.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.