Two staff members of Israel’s embassy in the United States have been shot dead in an attack outside a Jewish museum in the capital.
The deadly shooting occurred at about 9pm on Wednesday (01:00 GMT, Thursday) near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, according to authorities.
Pamela A Smith, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, said authorities had detained a single suspect over the shooting, identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, Illinois.
Smith said Rodriguez chanted, “Free, free, Palestine,” while in custody.
Smith did not elaborate on a suspected motive for the attack.
Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters her administration would not tolerate “violence or hate in our city.”
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office said Thursday he is “shocked” by the “horrific, antisemitic” shooting.
Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, who joined the press conference in Washington DC, said the deceased were a “beautiful couple” that had been planning to get married.
The American Jewish Committee, which had hosted an event at the museum, said it was “devastated that an unspeakable act of violence took place outside the venue”.
US President Donald Trump expressed condolences to the families of the victims and said the killings were “based obviously on antisemitism”.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said federal authorities were investigating the attack and would bring its “depraved perpetrator” to justice.
US Attorney General Pamela Bondi said she was at the scene of the shooting and was “praying for the victims of this violence as we work to learn more”.
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, called the shooting a “depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism”.
Richard Weitz, a security expert and analyst based in the US capital, described the attack as a “well-planned assassination”.
Weitz also pointed out that while high-profile diplomats are well-protected, low-level staffers usually go about doing their own business without any assigned security personnel.
