Two Israeli embassy staff shot and killed in Washington

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The Israeli embassy employees were shot and were killed outside an event at the Jewish Museum in Washington late on Wednesday, according to law enforcement officials.

The victims – a woman and a man – were shot at approximately 9 pm where they were leaving a reception for young diplomats hosted by the American Jewish Committee, a leading Jewish organization in the United States.

The head of the Metropolitan Police Department Pamela Smith said that the suspect was detained, as the officers specified “initially” Elias Rodriguez of 30 -year -old Chicago.

Smith said he chanted “Palestine is free and free” while he was detention.

Tal Nayem Cohen, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington, said that the employees “shot this evening close” in a post on the social media platform X.

She said they were attending a “Jewish event” in the museum. She added: “We have a full belief in law enforcement authorities on both local and unionist levels to arrest the shooter and protect the representatives of Israel and Jewish societies.”

The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, said he was “destroyed” because of the killings. “This is a miserable work of hatred, from anti -Semitism,” he said. “We stand with the Jewish community in the capital and through the United States.”

US President Donald Trump wrote on the social truth platform: “The terrible killings in the capital, which clearly depends on anti -Semitism, must end! Hate and radicalism have no place in the United States of America.”

Smith said that the police believed that the suspect had acted alone. She said, “It was noticed that he was going back and forth outside the museum” before “approached a group of four people, produced a pistol and opened the fire.”

She said that the suspect entered the museum and then detained security. Smith said that the police recovered the weapon used.

Christie Nom, Minister of Internal Security, wrote to X that the administration “will bring this spoiler perpetrator to justice.”

Steve Jensen, Assistant Director of the Field Office of the Federal Investigation Office in Washington, said that the office was investigating the shooting “as a terrorist and hate crime.”

Michael Letter, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, said the victims were a couple about to engage. “The young man bought a ring this week with the intention of proposing his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem.”

He added that he spoke to Trump, who told me that his administration would do everything they could do to fight and end the anti -Semitism and hatred that is directed to a demon and the State of Israel.

Danny Donnon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, called on a “corrupt act of anti -Semitic terrorism.”

He wrote on X: “The harm of the Jewish community crosses a red line. Israel will continue to act firmly to protect its citizens and its representatives – everywhere in the world.”

“This seems to be an esophageal fire, another terrible example of anti -Semitism, which, as we know, is very rampant in our society,” said Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Leader of the Senate, on X.

Participated in additional reports by James Politi in Washington