May 21 (UPI) — Two Israeli Embassy staff members were shot dead Wednesday night outside Washington’s Capital Jewish Museum where an event was being hosted by the American Jewish Committee, officials and authorities said.
“Two Israeli Embassy staff were senselessly killed tonight near the Jewish Museum in Washington DC,” Department of Home Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X.
Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith told reporters in a press conference that one person, the suspected shooter from Chicago, is in custody.
Police were notified of shots fired at 9:08 p.m. EDT outside the museum near the intersection of 3rd and F. Street Northwest.
Officers found two people, a man and a woman later identified as Israeli embassy staff, unresponsive and suffering from gunshot wounds, injuries that they succumbed to, she said.
“A young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem,” Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., said. “They were a beautiful couple.”
Smith said the suspect was seen pacing back and forth outside the museum before approaching a group of four people, pulling out a handgun and shooting both victims.
Event security detained the suspect who then entered the museum, she said.
“The suspect chanted, ‘Free, free Palestine’ while in custody,” she said, identifying the suspect at 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser suggested the attack Was terrorism.
“We will not tolerate this violence or hate in our city,” she said. “We will not tolerate any acts of terrorism, and we’re going to stand together as a community in the coming days and weeks to send a clear message that we will not tolerate anti-Semitism.”
This is a developing story.