Two Israeli embassy staffers killed in shooting outside Washington’s Capital Jewish Museum

Two staff members at the Israeli Embassy were shot and killed Wednesday outside the Capital Jewish Museum by an assailant who shouted “free, free Palestine” after he was arrested.

The attack outside an event at the Jewish Museum in Washington drew widespread condemnation, including from President Donald Trump.

“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA. Condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things as this can happen! God Bless You ALL!”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said federal authorities were investigating the attack.

Pamela A. Smith, chief of police for the DC Metropolitan Police Department, said in a press conference that a single suspect approached a group of four people exiting the museum and fired his handgun, striking two of them. He then entered the museum, where he was detained by event security. The suspect, tentatively identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez, chanted “free, free Palestine,” while in custody, she said.

Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X that she and Jeanine Pirro, the newly minted interim U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. had arrived on the scene shortly after the DC police department relayed word of the shooting publicly.

“I spoke to the president of the United States multiple times tonight,” Bondi said at the press conference. “On behalf of the president, his prayers are with all of us, all of the Jewish community, everyone in Washington, DC, state, local and federal agencies and our great U.S. attorney, Jeanine Pirro, who will be prosecuting this case.”

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

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

This isn’t the first time in recent weeks that an act of violence has rocked the country’s Jewish community.

In April, a suspect set fire to the residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro while the governor and his family were inside. The alleged arsonist later said Shapiro “needs to know that he ‘will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people.”

“This sickening shooting seems to be another horrific instance of antisemitism which as we know is all too rampant in our society,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “I’m praying for those who were killed, all those affected, and their families.”