A woman who attended an event Wednesday at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., where two Israeli Embassy staff members were shot and killed outside, said she encountered the alleged shooter after the incident.
Katie Kalisher said the event at the museum was wrapping up when she heard gunshots.
“Then this man comes in … but he was covered in rain and just looking really distressed and scared,” Kalisher said. “We were comforting him because we thought that he was just somebody out in the street looking for a safe place to stay because he heard some gunshots.”
She was unknowingly speaking with Elias Rodriguez, the suspected shooter.
“I’m just trying to relax him, and I asked him, ‘So, do you like the museum?’ And he’s kind of playing dumb with me,” she said about the interaction. “He goes, ‘Oh, what kind of museum is this?’ I told him, ‘It’s a Jewish museum.’ He asked, ‘Do you think that’s why they did this attack’ … referring to the rounds that we heard.”
Kalisher said at first, she didn’t make the connection.
“Like of course that probably is what happened. Jews are so often the victims of antisemitic attacks like this. But I was like, ‘No, I don’t think it is,’ but like, ‘Are you okay?'”
At that moment Rodriguez, 30, claimed he was responsible for the attack, Kalisher said.
“He reaches into his bag and pulls out a keffiyeh and says, ‘I did it. I did it for Gaza.’ And, just starts shouting, ‘Free Palestine.'”
Police then arrested Rodriguez.
“Early indicators are that this is an act of targeted violence,” Dan Bongino, deputy director of the FBI, said in a post on social media.
The event, the AJC ACCESS Young Diplomats Reception, was hosted by the American Jewish Committee.
“We were having a panel speak about how groups are working together within Gaza to bring aid there so groups that are Israeli, Jewish, Christian, Muslim from all over the world are working together to be able to provide that much-needed humanitarian aid to the people really in need. And unfortunately, that event was ruined by this horrific attack,” Kalisher said.
Kalisher said it’s not the first time she had personal experience of antisemitism herself.
“I’ve been kicked out of gay nightclubs in D.C. for wearing a star of David necklace, and as a lesbian, it’s pretty terrible to be ostracized by my own community,” she said. “So unfortunately, this is just something that I’ve seen before and I’ll probably see again. Antisemitism in this country is out of control.”
The Anti-Defamation League recently released its audit of antisemitic attacks in 2024. It recorded 9,354 antisemitic incidents across the U.S. last year, a 5% increase from 2023 and a 344% increase over the past five years.
“It is the highest number on record since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents 46 years ago,” the ADL said in its audit.
What we know about the victims
Officials have identified the two victims killed in the attack as a couple named Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim.
In a post on X, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said, “We are shocked and horrified this morning by the news of the brutal terrorist attack that claimed the lives of two of our Embassy staff members in Washington — Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim. May their memory be a blessing.”
The two, who met while living in Jerusalem, were planning to get engaged, according to Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S.
“No words can express the depth of our grief and horror at this devastating loss,” the Israeli Embassy said in a statement on social media. “Our hearts are with their families, and the embassy will be by their side during this terrible time.”
The Embassy of Israel to the United States of America/AFP via Getty Images
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