In what appears to be a sign of spiking anti-semitism in America, an Illinois man allegedly murdered two Israel diplomats in Washington, DC on Wednesday evening as they left a cultural event hosted by a museum in the nation’s capital.
A young couple who were planning to get engaged next week, Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, were attending an event Wednesday evening at the Capital Jewish Museum when Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago allegedly shot them both at close range. While police were taking the shooter into custody, he shouted “Free Palestine,” DC’s police chief said.
“This was a brazen act of cowardly, antisemitic violence,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X early Thursday.
“We have full faith in law enforcement authorities on both the local and federal levels to apprehend the shooter and protect Israel’s representatives and Jewish communities throughout the United States,” Israeli embassy spokesperson Tal Naim Cohen said.
After shooting Lischinsky and Milgrim at approximately 9:08 p.m. Wednesday night, Rodriguez attempted to enter the museum but was detained by event security. CCTV footage showed him pacing back and forth across the street from the museum’s entrance just before the shooting.
The event the couple was attending was focused on finding humanitarian solutions to the war in Gaza.
DC’s Metropolitan Police, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation all issued statements on Thursday that they are actively continuing their investigation into this double murder with international implications.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi rushed to the scene of the shooting Wednesday night and said she has been briefing President Trump on the evolving situation.
According to the American Jewish Committee, roughly seven in 10 Jews in America reported having been subjected to online or in-person anti-semitism in 2024.
