Two employees of the Israeli embassy opened fire at the Mitt in the Washington Museum of the Jewish capital

Two employees of the Israeli embassy were killed outside a Jewish museum in the center of Washington, DC by a man that the police say “Palestine is free, free” after the attack.

The Capital Police said that the victims, two young couple, were shot while leaving an event at the Jewish Capital Museum, adding that the accident appears to be targeted.

The shooting at 21:05 local time (01:05 GMT) in an area with many tourist sites, museums and government buildings, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the FBI.

After the suspect, who was detained by the authorities, opened the fire, he walked inside the museum and was safe, and the head of the Capital Police Department Pamela Smith said.

President Smith said at a press conference that the suspect, Elias Rodriguez, 30, from Chicago, was seen walking at a pace outside the museum before opening fire on a group of four – killed the couple.

She added that the police “had no previous interactions” with the suspect.

“We don’t see anything in his background that would put him on our radar.”

The Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, participated in the conference that the couple who were killed are planning to engage.

Mr. Liter said that the male victim bought this week’s episode and plans to suggest a journey they planned in Jerusalem. The names of the victims were not released.

“We heard gunshots and then a man came looking for a truly resolution. We thought he needed help,” eyewitnesses Katie Kalcher told the BBC, referring to the suspect.

Jojo Calin, a member of the Board of Directors of the American Jewish Committee that helped organize the event, said she did not witness the shooting but she felt “guilty” about what happened.

She said: “I will not lose my humanity on this or be deterred. And that the Israelis and the Palestinians are still worthy of self -determination (from the paradoxes) that this is what we were discussing.”

US President Donald Trump suggested that the killings were driven by anti -Semitism.

“The terrible DC killings should end, which clearly depends on anti -Semitism, now! Hate and radicalism have no place in the United States of America,” he wrote in The Truth Social Platform.

“We will track the officials and bring them to justice,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The United Nations ambassador to the United Nations described the incident as a “corrupt act of anti -Semitic terrorism.”

Ambassador Danny Dannon wrote on X. “Harmony of diplomats and Jewish society crosses a red line.

The accident sparked a great response to the police and closed several basic streets in the city.

The spokesman for the Israeli embassy, ​​Tal Nayem Cohen, confirmed that two employees were shot “close to” while attending the event in the museum.

He said that the embassy was “Iman Kamel” that the authorities “will protect the representatives of Israel and Jewish societies throughout the United States.”

The American media reported that the Israeli ambassador was not at the museum at the time of the shooting.

The Capital Campus at Georgetown University was temporarily imprisoned, according to CBS.

“When we went to leave the police and security, they were on the basement and told us that we could not leave,” said one of the students, who was in their building for more than an hour.

The Jewish Museum has struggled, like many other Jewish institutions in the United States, with security issues, amid high anti -Semitism.

“Jewish institutions throughout the city, throughout the country, are concerned about security due to some of the frightening incidents that some institutions faced and because of the climate of anti -Semitism,” CEO Beatrice Gories NBC News said In a separate news report before the attack on Wednesday.

She said that the museum recently received a grant for its security to promote its security in part, due to a new exhibition on PRIDE LGBT.

“We realize that there are threats related to this as well,” said Ms. Jooritz. “Once again, we want to make sure that our space is welcome and safe for everyone who comes here while exploring these stories.”

The US ambassador to Israel has published Mike Hakapi to X to summon the attack “a horrific actual terrorism that the people of Israel are waking up until this morning.”