The couple were both Israeli Embassy staff. They were exiting the museum after attending an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee when the gunman opened fire. Both were found unconscious and not breathing at the scene, D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith told reporters at a news conference held a few hours after the incident.
A young, soon-to-be-engaged Israeli couple was shot dead near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington late Wednesday by a gunman who chanted “Free, free Palestine,” after the shooting, according to authorities.
Smith said police believed the shooting was carried out by a single person and that a suspect, 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, was in custody. Rodriguez was observed pacing back and forth outside the museum before the shooting, she said. After shooting the couple, he entered the museum, where he was detained by security, she said.
Smith said D.C. police had not received any intelligence “with respect to any type of terrorist act or hate crime” when asked whether her department had any indication that such a crime would occur. She added that D.C. police had no previous interaction with Rodriguez. “We don’t see anything in his background that would have put him on our radar at this time.”
Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, was visibly shaken during the news conference and said the male victim had recently purchased a ring with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem. “They were a beautiful couple, who came to enjoy an evening in Washington’s cultural center,” he said.
Leiter added that President Donald Trump had called him to say that his administration would “do everything it can possibly do to fight and end antisemitism.”
In a subsequent social media post, Trump said: “These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”
Prominent members of the Jewish community spoke out against the violence.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the incident as “a despicable act of hatred, of antisemitism.”
Ted Deutch, chief executive of the American Jewish Committee, said he was “devastated that an unspeakable act of violence took place outside the venue.”
Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, in a social media post denounced the shooting as “a depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.” He said Israel was confident that U.S. authorities would “take strong action against those responsible.”
The shooting will be investigated as a possible hate crime, Steven J. Jensen, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office, told reporters.
“We are actively investigating and working to get more information to share,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem said in a post on social media. “Please pray for the families of the victims. We will bring this depraved perpetrator to justice.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X she had visited the scene with the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, who will be prosecuting the case.
“All of our federal agencies will work hand in hand” with the D.C. police department, Bondi said at the news conference. “We will follow the facts. We will follow the law, and this defendant … will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
