CNN
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Two staff members at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, were killed Wednesday night near the Capital Jewish Museum, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said.
“Two Israeli Embassy staff were senselessly killed tonight near the Jewish Museum in Washington DC,” Noem said in a post on X. “We are actively investigating and working to get more information to share.”
Speaking at a news conference, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said law enforcement believes the shooting was conducted by a single suspect who is now in custody.
“Prior to the shooting, the suspect was observed pacing back and forth outside of the museum,” Smith said, before the suspect “approached a group of four people, produced a handgun and opened fire striking both of our decedents.”
After the shooting, Smith said that the suspect then entered the museum and was detained by event security. The suspect chanted “Free, Free Palestine” while in custody, Smith said.
The victims were a “young couple about to be engaged,” Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the US, said at the news conference. “A young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem.”
Tal Naim Cohen, a spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy, said in a statement that two staff members were shot “at close range” while attending a Jewish event at the museum.
The Israeli ambassador was not involved in the incident and was not at the location when the shooting happened, an embassy spokesperson told CNN.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an earlier post on social media that she and acting US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro had arrived at the scene of the shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum.
Ted Deutch, the CEO of the American Jewish Committee, said his organization was hosting an event at the museum on Wednesday evening.
“We are devastated that an unspeakable act of violence took place outside the venue,” he said in a statement. “At this moment, as we await more information from the police about exactly what transpired, our attention and our hearts are solely with those who were harmed and their families.”
US President Donald Trump expressed his condolences for the families of the victims.
“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA. Condolences to the families of the victims,” he wrote on X.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon reacted to media reports of the shooting on Wednesday, saying in a statement on X, “The fatal shooting that took place outside the event that took place at the Jewish Museum in Washington, DC – in which Israeli embassy employees were also injured – is a depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.