Two Israelis killed in shooting outside Jewish museum in Washington

JTA - Two people were shot dead outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., where an event celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month was being held.

The Israeli embassy said that two of its staff were shot. The shooting took place after 9 p.m. on Wednesday (US time) and the victims were a man and a woman who were about to be engaged, Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter said at a press conference.

Police are questioning a person of interest, Elias Rodriguez, who they believe was solely responsible. Rodriguez, 30, approached a group of people and fired shots, according to police. He then entered the museum, where he was detained. Once detained by police, Rodriguez chanted “Free, free Palestine.”

D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith said there was no intelligence ahead of the event indicating that there would be an attack. The FBI is investigating whether the shooting is a hate crime and an act of terrorism.

“Two staff members of the Israeli embassy were shot this evening at close range while attending a Jewish event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC,” a spokesperson for the Israeli embassy said in a statement reported by multiple outlets. “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.”

An alert from the Community Security Service, a Jewish security agency, also said the two victims were Israeli embassy employees. Attorney General Pam Bondi tweeted that she was “on the scene of the horrible shooting” along with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

“We’ll be doing everything in our power to keep all citizens safe, especially tonight our Jewish community,” Bondi said at the press conference. “We will follow the facts, we will follow the law and this defendant, if charged, will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

The shooting is the latest fatal attack on a Jewish institution. The worst antisemitic attack in U.S. history occurred in 2018, when a gunman killed 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue. The following year saw three more fatal attacks on a synagogue in California, a rabbi’s house in New York and a kosher supermarket in New Jersey.

Since then, Jewish institutions have bolstered their security. The Capital Jewish Museum had just gotten a security grant from Washington, D.C. this week. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city would consult with local Jewish institutions to ensure that the

“The fatal shooting that took place outside the event that took place at the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. is a depraved act of antisemitic terrorism,” said Israeli United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon in a statement. “Harming the Jewish community is crossing a red line. We are confident that the US authorities will take strong action against those responsible for this criminal act. Israel will continue to act resolutely to protect its citizens and representatives – everywhere in the world.”

The event was held by the American Jewish Committee, which had advertised a cocktail event for young Jewish professionals and diplomats on Wednesday. Its website said the location would be provided to those who registered, a practice that many Jewish groups have adopted at a time of high alert.

“We are devastated that an unspeakable act of violence took place outside the venue,” AJC CEO Ted Deutch said in a statement. “At this moment, as we await more information from the police about exactly what transpired, our attention and our hearts are solely with those who were harmed and their families.”

In a statement the Jewish Federations of North America said it was “horrified at the reported murder of two people outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC. Our hearts go out to the victims and to our colleagues at AJC, whose event was being held at the museum.”