Two Israeli embassy staff were shot dead outside a Jewish museum in downtown Washington DC by a man who police say shouted “free, free Palestine” after the attack.

The victims, a young couple, were shot while leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum, DC police said, adding that the incident appears targeted.

The shooting happened at 21:05 local time (01:05 GMT) in an area with numerous tourist sites, museums and government buildings, including the FBI’s Washington field office.

After the suspect, who has been detained by authorities, opened fire, he walked inside the museum and was stopped by security, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said.

The suspect, Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, was seen pacing outside the museum before opening fire on a group of four – killing the couple, Chief Smith said at a news conference.

Police “have not had any prior interactions” with the suspect, she added.

“We don’t see anything in his background that would have placed him on our radar.”

Israeli ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter shared at the conference that the couple killed had been planning to get engaged.

Mr Leiter said the male victim had purchased a ring this week and had planned to propose on a trip they’d planned to Jerusalem. The victims’ names have not been released.

“We heard gunshots and then a guy came in looking really distressed. We thought he needed help,” eyewitness Katie Kalisher told the BBC, referring to the suspect.

JoJo Kalin, a board member of the American Jewish Committee who helped organise the event, said she didn’t witness the shooting but felt a “sense of guilt” about what happened.

“I’m not going to lose my humanity over this or be deterred. And that Israelis and Palestinians both still deserve self-determination and [it is] just deeply ironic that that’s what we were discussing,” she said.

US President Donald Trump suggested the killings were driven by antisemitism.

“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA,” he wrote on the Truth Social platform.

In a post on X, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “we will track down those responsible and bring them to justice”.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations called the incident a “depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism”.

“Harming diplomats and the Jewish community is crossing a red line,” Ambassador Danny Danon wrote on X. “We are confident that the US authorities will take strong action against those responsible for this criminal act.”

The incident triggered a major police response and shut down several core streets in the city.

Israeli embassy spokesman Tal Naim Cohen confirmed that two staff members were shot “at close range” while attending the event at the museum.

The embassy had “full faith” that authorities would “protect Israel’s representatives and Jewish communities throughout the United States”, he said.

The Israeli ambassador was reportedly not at the museum event at the time of the shooting, US media reported.

The DC campus of Georgetown University also was temporarily locked down, according to CBS.

“When we went to leave the cops and security were downstairs and told us we can’t leave,” said one student, who was on lockdown in their building for over an hour.

The Capital Jewish Museum like many other Jewish institutions in the US has struggled with security issues amid rising antisemitism.

“Jewish institutions all around town, all around the country, are concerned about security due to some very scary incidents that some institutions have faced and because of a climate of antisemitism,” executive director Beatrice Gurwitz told NBC News in a separate news report before the attack on Wednesday.

The museum recently received a grant to upgrade its security in part, she said, because of a new exhibit on LGBT pride.

“We recognise that there are threats associated with this as well,” Ms Gurwitz said. “And again, we want to ensure that our space is as welcoming and secure for everybody who comes here while we are exploring these stories.”

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee posted to X to call the attack a “horrific act of terror that the people of Israel are waking up to this morning”.