Suspect accused of Washington killings of two foreign officials

The suspect, who is accused of withdrawing two Israeli Embassy officers outside the Jewish Museum in Washington, is accused of murder of the first degree, as well as the murder of foreign officials and related charges of firearms.

The attack on Wednesday night is being investigated as a crime of hatred, and more accusations are expected, US Prosecutor Jean Pira said at a press conference.

“This is the right to the death penalty,” she said on Thursday, adding that it would be too early to say whether the prosecutor’s office will decide to achieve the death penalty.

Steve Jenson from the FBI field office in Washington called the murder “an act of terror and sent violence against the Jewish community.”

The couple of Jaron Lyshinsky and Sarah Lin Milgrim were shot down at the event in the Metropolitan Museum in Washington at about 9:08 pm local time (02:08 BST), police said. The suspect opened fire on a group of four who went to the event, killed by two victims, police said.

Police identified the suspect as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago. He was arrested at the scene shortly after firing.

Officials said he had seen him walking around the museum before the fire was opened. Eyewitnesses said the BBC that he was originally mistaken for traumatized by an accidental observer and assisted the museum.

One witness, Joni Kalin, said that people were “reassuring him”. “We knew little that he was someone who performed people in cold blood,” he said.

Police said the suspect also shouted a “free Palestine” before being taken into custody.

Jenson said the suspect landed in the Washington area, Jenson said, and investigators still collect their location before the attack. According to the statement, officials believe he arrived on Tuesday from Chicago to Washington at a work conference.

He worked in the American Association of Information Osteopathic Information (AOIA) as an administrative specialist since 2024.

The suspect was charged on Thursday’s trial and ordered the detention. His next hearing was scheduled for June 18.

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Echiel Leiter said shortly after the shooting that Mr Lyshinsky planned to offer Mrs. Milgrim during a future trip, which they planned to Jerusalem.

“They were a wonderful couple,” Leiter said at a press conference.

On Thursday, the Kansas -Sitti was expected to be a vigil for Mrs. Milgrim. Earlier, she talked about her fears of anti -Semitism in American public life. In 2017, Her interviewed local TV channel After her school, Nazi swastika was fondilized in Kansas.

“I’m worried about going to my synagogue and now I need to worry about school safety, and it should not be a thing,” said Ms Milgrim, who was in the last high school.

Police said the suspect was not on their radar and had no previous interaction with law enforcement. They said he confessed to the attack and was believed to act alone.

The pistol used in the attack was a 9 -minute gun, which was legally purchased in Illinois in March 2020 and brought to Washington in his luggage. Illinois has some of the most restrictive weapons laws in the US.

Accounts in social media related to the suspect also indicate that he actively participated in the Profolestian protest movement. Investigators said they were working on the authentication of works on the Internet, which is alleged to the authors, accusing Israel of Genocide in Gaza, criticizing the US policy and discussing the use of political violence.

On Thursday, a house associated with the suspect in Chicago was spotted, and the authorities also said they were viewing its electronic devices.

One of his neighbors in Chicago, John Wayne Fry, told reporters that he lives in the same apartment building as the suspect for about a year.

The suspect showed a photo outside his apartment of the Palestinian-American child who died in Chicago in 2023, Mr. Fry said.

The man who killed the six -year -old Wadi Alfayui was Convicted of accusations of crime on hatred earlier this month. Officials said he was motivated by hatred of Islam and the gas conflict.

It is unclear whether the suspect was direct contact with the boy’s family.

Jojo Kalin, one of the organizers of the Washington event, told the BBC that the event attended by the victims was focused on how to build a coalition to help people with gas in the background of the current Israel-Ham war.

She added that “deeply ironically, we discussed the construction of the bridge, and then we all hit the head with such hatred.”

The attack was condemned by world leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starr, who said he was “carefully condemning an” anti -Semitic attack “in Washington.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called an attack “horrific anti -Semitic murder” and added that security and diplomatic missions worldwide will be increased for Israeli representatives and diplomatic missions.

US President Donald Trump has also abandoned anti -Semitism in response to the attack, writing on his social media platform, the truth is social that “hatred and radicalism is not in the United States.”

Later, Trump and Netanyahu were told by the incident where the US president expressed sadness to his Israeli counterpart, the call reads.

With reporting from Mike Wandling in Chicago