WASHINGTON, DC - 22 MAY: Police work at the crime scene, where two Israeli Embassy staff members, a man and a woman, were killed yesterday evening outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum, on 21 May 2025. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

DC Shooting Leaves 2 Israeli Embassy Staffers Dead

By Sara Mosqueda

22 May 2025

An American woman and Israeli man who both worked at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., were shot and killed on the evening of 21 May.

The victims were identified as research assistant Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, who organized visits and missions to Israel. Yechiel Leiter, Israeli ambassador to the United States, said that Lischinsky had purchased an engagement ring earlier this week and planned to soon propose to Milgrim, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Lischinsky and Milgrim were shot and killed near the Capital Jewish Museum at around 9:15 p.m. The couple were leaving an event about humanitarian aid at the museum and were with two other people when the suspect, Elias Rodriguez, approached the group and opened fire, said Metro Police Chief Pamela Smith during a press conference. The suspect had been seen pacing outside of the museum before the shooting.

Rodriguez, 31, then allegedly walked into the museum, where he was detained by event security. The shots were heard from inside the museum by witnesses attending the American Jewish Committee’s annual Young Diplomats reception. One told the AP that when Rodriguez first entered the museum, he seemed distressed and people asked if he needed help and brought him water, failing to recognize that he was the suspected shooter. Once he was taken into custody, he began chanting, “Free, free Palestine,” according to Smith.

Rodriguez is being interviewed by both the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI. The FBI is investigating if the shooting qualifies as a hate crime or a terrorist act. The New York Times reported that FBI agents were searching Rodriguez’s home in Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday morning.

The shooting “prompted Israeli missions to beef up their security and lower their flags to half-staff,” the AP reported. “It came as Israel has launched another major offensive in the Gaza Strip in a war with Hamas that has heightened tensions across the Middle East and internationally and as antisemitic acts are on the rise.”

The city had recently awarded the museum, a nonprofit, a $500,000 grant to offset increased security costs. Museum leaders expressed concern that the Capital Jewish Museum could be a target because it is a Jewish organization and it was unveiling a new LGBTQ exhibit, NBC Washington reported.

In a report released in April, the Anti-Defamation League found that the number of antisemitic incidents in the United States was at a record high in 2024, totalling 9,345 events. Of that total, approximately 58 percent were protesting Israeli policies. “A key reason is the widespread opposition to Israel’s military response in Gaza after the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023,” the AP reported. The attack by Hamas resulted in 1,200 deaths, and Hamas kidnapped roughly 250 hostages.

Since the attack, Israel has pressed a military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 53,000 people, mostly women and children. The fighting has also led to a humanitarian crisis, with millions of Palestinians displaced and constantly facing starvation as aid groups struggle to receive and distribute food supplies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump both condemned the shooting. Netanyahu promised increased security at other Israeli embassies in response to the incident, the BBC reported.