Two Israeli embassy staff members killed in Washington, one arrested
There is a suspect in the murder of two staff members of the Israeli embassy in Washington, who were shot overnight outside the Jewish Museum, Agenzia Nova reported.
A man has been arrested and identified as Elias rodriguez, of Chicago, the Washington police chief Pamela Smith reported at a news conference.
The victims were leaving the museum, which was hosting an event, when they were shot at around 21 p.m. local time, Smith said. The man in custody, Smith added, chanted “Free Palestine” and “implied” that he was the shooter. The Washington police and FBI are investigating the incident. The FBI’s Washington office said there is “no ongoing threat to public safety.”
The United States Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, reported the double homicide on X.
“Two Israeli embassy staff members were senselessly shot tonight near the Jewish Museum in Washington, DC. We are actively investigating and working to obtain more information to share,” Noem wrote on her profile.
Tal Naim Cohen, a spokesperson for the embassy, confirmed the news in a statement: “Two Israeli embassy staff members were shot at close range tonight while attending a Jewish event at the Jewish Museum in the capital.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi traveled to the scene of the shooting. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, on X, called the act “a depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.”
