Capital Jewish Museum Schießerei in DC leaves 2 dead – the striker

By Louis Keene and Jacob KornbluhMay 21, 2025

According to the local and federal civil servants, two employees of the Israeli embassy were shot before an event in Washington, DC, who seemed to be directed late on Wednesday evening in an anti -Semitic attack.

The shootout took place after an event by the American Jewish Committee for young Jewish specialists and diplomats at the Capital Jewish Museum. The FBI examines whether the shootout is a hate crime and an act of terrorism.

“Two employees of the Israeli embassy were shot up close this evening, while they took part in a Jewish event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC,” said a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in a statement reported by several outlets. “We have full confidence in the law enforcement authorities at both local and federal level to capture the shooters and to protect the representatives and Jewish communities in Israel in the United States.”

The police say that the suspect is in custody. In front of the shootout he became “outside the museum up and down,” said Pamela A. Smith, chief of police at the Metropolitan Police Department.

“He approached a group of four people, produced a pistol and opened the fire, beating our two crazy people after shooting the suspect [he] Then the museum entered and was arrested by event security.

“Once in handcuffs, the suspect identified where he lay out the gun and that this weapon was recovered and he implied that he committed the crime. The suspect sang custody,” she said.

The suspect was temporarily identified as the 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, Illinois.

According to Israeli ambassador Yechiel (Michael), the two employees were head of “a young couple who had engaged”. “The young man bought a ring this week to suggest his girlfriend in Jerusalem next week.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi tweeted that she was “at the scene of the terrible shootout” together with the US lawyer Jeanine Pirro. “Pray for the victims of this violence while we work to learn more,” added Bondi.

Head said President Trump spoke to him on Bondi's phone and said: “His government will do everything she may do to fight and end anti -Semitism” and “The Demonization and Delegitimization of the State of Israel”.

“We are destroyed that an unspeakable act of violence took place outside the event location,” wrote AJC Managing Director Ted German about X.

“The fatal shootings that took place outside the event at the Jewish Museum in Washington is a spoiled act of anti -Semitic terrorism,” said the ambassador of the Israeli United Nations, Danny Danon, in a statement. “To damage the Jewish community crosses a red line. We are confident that the US authorities are strongly against those who are responsible for this criminal act.

The AJC had advertised the evening as a cocktail event for young Jewish professionals and diplomats. On the website, the location for those who have registered said a practice that many Jewish groups took over at a time of high alert.

Chuck Schumer, minority leader of the Senate, said on X: “I am closely monitoring the shootout in the Capital Jewish Museum in DC this evening. This pathological shootout seems to be another terrible example of anti -Semitism, which, as we know, is all too widespread in our society. I pray for those who have been killed, all these affected and their families.”

Accordingly Jewish insiderA man entered the museum after the shootout when he said that he needed water and a safe place, then pulled out a Keffiyeh and called: “Free Palestine”. It was unclear whether the person was associated with shooting.

“I would like to make it clear that we will not tolerate this violence or this hatred in our city,” said the Mayor of DC, Muriel Bowser. “We will not tolerate terrorist files, and in the coming days and weeks we will be together as a community to send the clear message that we will not tolerate anti -Semitism.”

The shootout is the latest fatal attack on a Jewish institution. The worst anti -Semitic attack in the history of US history occurred in 2018 when a shooter killed 11 Jews in a synagogue in Pittsburgh. The following year there were three other fatal attacks on a synagogue in California, a rabbi house in New York and a Koscher supermarket in New Jersey.

Since then, Jewish institutions have strengthened their security. The Capital Jewish Museum had just received a security subsidy from Washington, DC this week.

JTA contributed to this report.