ARTICLE AD BOX
The suspect accused of gunning down two Israeli embassy employees outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., has been identified by police and is in custody.
Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, was detained by event security inside the museum after allegedly using a handgun to open fire on a group of four people who were leaving an event, according to the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.
The shooting occurred around 9.15 p.m. outside the museum in the area of 3rd and F Street NW, police said. Rodriguez was allegedly “pacing back and forth outside of the museum” before shots were fired.
Smith said that after being handcuffed, Rodriguez disclosed where he discarded the handgun, which was recovered by police. The suspect also “implied that he committed the offense,” the police chief added.
Video footage shows the suspect chanting, “Free, free Palestine,” repeatedly, as he is arrested by police and led away from the museum.
Police believed that Rodriguez was the sole suspect at the time of reporting. He had no prior criminal record and was not previously known to law enforcement. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said there is “no active threat in our community.”
Rodriguez was being interviewed early Thursday by both police and the FBI, Deputy Director Dan Bongino has said.
Assistant Director of the FBI's Washington Field Office, Steve Jensen, said that an investigation into the homicides will “look into ties to potential terrorism” and if the attack was a “hate crime.” Jensen denounced the shooting as “heinous.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said she was at the scene with former judge Jeanine Pirro, who serves as the U.S. attorney in Washington and whose office would prosecute the case.
Israel’s embassy in the U.S. has named the victims as Yaron and Sarah, with Israeli media reporting their full names as Yaron Lischinsky, 28, and Sarah Milgram, a young couple.
Israeli and U.S. officials have deemed the attack as part of a rising tide of antisemitism, intensifying amid Israel's escalating offensive in the Gaza Strip.
English (US) ·