BBC News<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A young couple who worked for the Israeli Embassy have been shot dead outside a Jewish museum in Washington DC. <\/p>\n Police say the victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were killed by a man who shouted “free, free Palestine” while he was arrested. Elias Rodriguez has been charged with first-degree murder.<\/p>\n Here’s what you need to know about the shooting. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n At 21:08 local time on Wednesday, police received calls about a shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum in downtown Washington DC. <\/p>\n A man and a woman were found unconscious and not breathing at the scene, and later died. <\/p>\n The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said the couple had been leaving an event at the museum which is in an area with tourist sites, museums and government buildings.<\/p>\n Police allege the shooting was committed by Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago.<\/p>\n He had been seen pacing up and down outside the museum before using a handgun to open fire on a group of four people, the MPD said.<\/p>\n The suspect then went inside the museum, where he was detained. He repeatedly shouted “free Palestine” while being arrested, police said.<\/p>\n Some in the museum had initially thought he was a distressed bystander<\/a> when he burst in.<\/p>\n One witness, Yoni Kalin, said people inside had been “calming him down, giving him water, taking care of him”. <\/p>\n “Little did we know he was somebody that executed people in cold blood,” he said.<\/p>\n The MPD and the FBI are investigating the attack as an act of terrorism and a hate crime. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, had both worked at the Israeli embassy in Washington DC. <\/p>\n Mr Lischinsky had planned to propose to Miss Milgrim in Jerusalem next week, Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, said on Thursday.<\/p>\n Yaron Lischinsky, a joint German-Israeli national, had worked as a research assistant at the embassy, according to his LinkedIn profile.<\/p>\n Born in Germany, he had moved to Israel as a teenager before relocating to Washington, his friend Ronen Shoval said.<\/p>\n He was a “devout Christian” with “good character”, Mr Shoval told the BBC.<\/p>\n He had also previously served in the Israeli military, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, said.<\/p>\n Sarah Lynn Milgrim, an American from Kansas, worked for the Israeli embassy’s public diplomacy department, according to her LinkedIn page.<\/p>\n Her father, Robert, told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that his daughter “loved Israel” and “loved everybody that lived in the Middle East”.<\/p>\n “She had a lot of close Palestinian friends, as well as many Israeli friends,” he said.<\/p>\n KU Hillel, a Jewish student organisation at the University of Kansas, said Miss Milgrim was a “beloved alum” with a “bright spirit”. <\/p>\n The Israeli embassy said its staff were “heartbroken and devastated” by the deaths.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Elias Rodriguez has been charged with two counts of first degree murder in relation to the shooting.<\/p>\n He has also been charged with murder of foreign officials, causing death with a firearm, and discharging a firearm in a crime of violence.<\/p>\n According to an affidavit, the suspect flew from Chicago on Tuesday and declared a gun legally bought in Illinois in his checked luggage.<\/p>\n Authorities say the investigation is ongoing, and more charges could be brought against him as it develops. <\/p>\n Interim DC attorney Jeanine Pirro said it was too early to say whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty, but that this was a “death penalty eligible case”. <\/p>\n The suspect is being held in detention and will appear in court for a preliminary hearing on 18 June, Pirro added.<\/p>\n He is believed to have acted alone, said US Attorney General Pam Bondi.<\/p>\n Earlier on Thursday, the FBI searched a Chicago property linked to the suspect. <\/p>\n Outside the apartment, neighbour John Wayne Fry told reporters that he had lived in the same apartment building as the suspect for around a year.<\/p>\n He said that the suspect displayed a photo outside his flat of a Palestinian-American child who was stabbed to death outside Chicago in 2023.<\/p>\n The killing caused international headlines. The man who killed six-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi was convicted of hate crime charges earlier this month. Officials say he was motivated by hatred for Islam and the conflict in Gaza.<\/p>\n It is unclear whether the suspect has had any direct contact with the boy’s family.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Fry said that he hadn’t talked with the suspect about politics, but said “If I had, I would have talked him out of it.”<\/p>\n The suspect had been working at the American Osteopathic Information Association since 2024, according to online records examined by BBC Verify.<\/p>\n Social media accounts belonging to him indicate that he was heavily involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement.<\/p>\n An online story indicated that he was associated with a fringe communist group, The Party for Socialism and Liberation, in 2017, and had been interviewed as a member of the group.<\/p>\n In a post on X, the party said they “have nothing to do with this shooting and do not support it” and have had no contact with the suspect for seven years.<\/p>\n Police said they had no prior interactions with the suspect and had not seen anything in his background “that would have placed him on our radar”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The event at the Capital Jewish Museum had been billed as a networking opportunity to bring Jewish young professionals and the diplomatic community together. <\/p>\n The organiser, American Jewish Committee, said it was open to those in the DC diplomatic community. The event’s theme was advertised as “turning pain into purpose”.<\/p>\n The event description said it invited humanitarian aid organisers responding to crises in the Middle East, including Gaza.<\/p>\n The location was only shared with those who signed up to attend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n President Donald Trump has condemned the attack and called it antisemitic.<\/p>\n Posting on his social media platform Truth Social, he said: “These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, now! <\/p>\n “Hatred and radicalism have no place in the USA. Condolences to the families of the victims. <\/p>\n “So sad that such things as this can happen! God bless you all!”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “outraged by the horrifying antisemitic murder” of the victims. <\/p>\n His office said he had spoken to both victims’ parents.<\/p>\n “My heart grieves for the families of the young beloveds, whose lives were cut short in a moment by an abhorrent antisemitic murderer,” he said, adding he had directed Israeli embassies around the world to increase security.<\/p>\n He and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also said the deaths were caused by “anti-Israeli incitement” which they said was being carried out by European leaders.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, the leaders of the UK, France and Canada signed a strongly worded joint letter condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a video address, Netanyahu linked Wednesday’s killings in Washington to Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.<\/p>\n “As he was taken away, he chanted, ‘Free Palestine!’ This is exactly the same chant we heard on October 7th,” Netanyahu said.<\/p>\n He accused Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of “emboldening Hamas to continue fighting forever” by calling for Israel to end its war in Gaza.<\/p>\n Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.<\/p>\n At least 53,475 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 3,340 since the Israeli offensive resumed, according to the territory’s health ministry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhat happened?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
What do we know about the victims?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Israeli](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/dee2\/live\/d22b6980-36e0-11f0-b84e-417dbe11adb9.jpg.webp\")
Israeli Embassy in US<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat do we know about the suspect?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/9db4\/live\/f566ec00-375b-11f0-8519-3b5a01ebe413.jpg.webp\")
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat was the event?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nWhat did Donald Trump say? <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
What did Israel say? <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n