Two members of the Israeli embassy staff were killed in a shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. Wednesday.
The FBI is treating the incident as a potential targeted attack, ABC News reports.
Witnesses reported that the suspect, who is in custody, shouted “free, free Palestine” after the shooting.
At a press conference Thursday morning, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar identified the two embassy staff members killed in the shooting as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim.
Sa’ar said the couple had been attending a Jewish conference hosted by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) when they were gunned down “in a horrific terrorist attack.”
Police identified Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, as the shooter.
Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said that Rodriguez was seen pacing outside the museum before he opened fire with a handgun on a group of four people. He then entered the museum, where police detained him.
Rodriguez reportedly pointed out where he discarded the weapon and allegedly suggested that he had committed the killings.
”The suspect identified where he discarded the weapon, and that weapon has been recovered,” Smith said, according to CBS News.
Metropolitan Police stated that initial searches of crime databases revealed no information about the suspect, who was not known to law enforcement.
Police and FBI agents are now examining the suspect’s social media, and seized electronic devices belonging to the suspect, according to a law enforcement source.
BBC News reports that the FBI is currently looking into “ties to potential terrorism or motivation based on a bias-based crime or a hate crime.”
The suspect is expected in court Thursday.
The story is developing. Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: X / Embassy of Israel to the USA / @IsraelinUSA]
