The victims of Wednesday's shooting outside an American Jewish Committee (AJC) event at the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington DC were named by authorities as Yarón Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26.
Lischinsky , an Israeli originally from Jerusalem, and Milgrim, an American who has been active in various initiatives to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, were embassy employees and a couple planning to marry. Lischinsky worked as a research assistant in the political department, whereas Milgrim was in charge of planning tours of various groups to Israel.
Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter said, "He bought a ring and planned to propose to her in Jerusalem. A beautiful couple who came to spend an evening at Washington's cultural center."
Milgrim, a 26-year-old American, and had been working at the Israeli mission's department of public diplomacy. She had also worked as a Jewish educator on top of being engaged in peace efforts during her academic studies.
"They were a beautiful couple out for an evening in Washington's cultural center"
Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter: the victims were about to be engaged — the young man had bought a ring just this week and planned to propose in Jerusalem next week 💔 pic.twitter.com/Ud2GhO0Irc
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) May 22, 2025
In 2023, Milgrim visited Israel as part of the Tech2Peace initiative to promote better relations between Israelis and Palestinians. She wrote, "The past 5 weeks, I have been in Israel conducting research for my final master's project, which examines the role of friendships in the peacebuilding process. I followed the journey of 12 Israeli and Palestinian participants of the Neve Shalom / Wahat al-Salam seminar hosted by Tech2Peace to document their transformative experiences as well as the complexities of the conflict."
According to reports, the shooter has been identified as Elias Rodriguez, a young Latino resident of Chicago, Illinois. "Yaron and Sarah were our friends and colleagues. They were in the prime of their lives," the embassy wrote on X. "This evening, a terrorist shot and killed them as they exited an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in DC. The entire embassy staff is heartbroken and devastated by their murder. No words can express the depth of our grief and horror at this devastating loss. Our hearts are with their families, and the embassy will be by their side during this terrible time."
Video: Witnesses describe shooting event at the US Jewish museum on May 22, 2025 / Credit: SOcial media
Witnesses claimed that minutes after the shooting, they saw the attacker enter the museum building saying, "I saw what happened, I need water and a safe place." Later, when police entered the building, Rodriguez pulled out a kaffiyeh and began shouting slogans such as "There is only one solution, intifada, revolution."
President Donald Trump responded to the attack and wrote, "These terrible murders in the capital, which are clearly motivated by antisemitism, must end, now!" United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee stated, "The Israeli Ambassador to the US is a friend, these were people who worked at the embassy, it's terrible that Israelis are murdered in our capital."
"This is already a tense situation. Jews are targets worldwide. Everyone wants to end the war, and it would end if Hamas stopped putting Gaza's people in a vulnerable position and released the hostages. As the president said, the war cannot end while Hamas has a role in Gaza. Hamas cut off limbs on October 7 and celebrated it," Huckabee added.
