Suspect Deadly shooting Of the 2 Israeli embassy employees outside the Jewish Museum, DC, DC, on Wednesday night was identified as Elias Rodriguez of 30 -year -old Chicago.
It is claimed that Rodriguez opened fire and killed Victims – A couple is about to engage, according to Yishil Lieter, the Israeli ambassador to the United States – while leaving the museum, which is located in the heart of the American capital. According to the police and video from the scene, “Palestine is free and free”, as it was detained.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Israel Determine the victims As Yaron Lesinski and Sarah Lin Milgerim. Her father said that Milgerim was an American in the Kansas City area, graduated from Kansas University and obtained a master’s degree at the American University. The former Israeli ambassador to the United States, Mike Herzog, said Lesinsky is an Israeli citizen.
The head of the Metropolitan Police Pamela A. Smith The authorities believe that the shooting was committed by one suspect now in the reservation.
What happened in the shooting scene
Smith said in a press conference that the suspect was “walking back and forth outside the museum” before he approached a group of four people, “produced a pistol” and shot the two victims. The museum entered immediately after his arrest in the shooting and the museum’s security, according to Samith.
“The suspect has set the place where he was ignored, and this weapon was recovered,” Smith said, adding that “implicitly he committed the crime.”
The video showed that the suspect chanted “Palestine free and free” during his arrest.
“Early indicators indicate that this is a business of the target violence,” Dan Bongino, Deputy Director of the FBI, He said In a post on social media, adding that the suspect was interviewed by the Capital Police in conjunction with the FBI.
A law enforcement source said that the shooting is being investigated as a hate crime.
Lieter told the correspondents on Tuesday that the suspect was inside the event earlier in the evening, before accompanying him.
“He was inside the event, he wandered inside the event,” Liter said in statements in the Hebrew language. “We are not sure exactly of what he said while he was inside the event, but it was enough that he was accompanied by the event. Then he went abroad and waited for the Israeli departure, and they shot them. Three additional people were able to save themselves and move away.”
A woman who attended the event, Katie Calcher, told CBS News that I faced the alleged shooter Immediately after hearing the shooting.
“Then this man comes … but he was covered with rain and it seems very sad and afraid,” Calcher said. “We were resting because we thought it was just someone on the street looking for a safe place to stay because he heard some shots.”
She said she spoke to him to try to help him relax. I asked him, “Do you like the museum? And she said about the interaction: “It is a kind of playing stupid with me.” He asked, “Do you think this is why they did this attack” … referring to the tours we heard. “
She said she told him that she was not thinking about it and asked whether he was fine. Then, she said: “He reaches his bag and pulls Kefiyeh and says:” I have done so. I did this for Gaza. ”It only starts screaming,“ Palestine is free. ”
What we know about the background of the suspect
The Metropolitan police said that the suspect did not appear in a preliminary research of the crime data rules and was not on the law enforcement radar.
The suspect was from Chicago, and the presence of large road enforcement on the roads in the Albani Park neighborhood in Chicago on Thursday morning, where the officers carried out a research believed to be linked to the shooting, CBS News Chicago mentioned. The FBI confirmed their office in Chicago Field Chicago that “the law enforcement activity that was licensed by the court” in this field.
CBS News has identified the suspect’s X account. It has a history of publications on pro-events activity, frustration with media coverage of the Israeli War, Hamas, inflammatory positions around Israel and discussing violence for political gains.
The American Orthopedic Information Association, based in Chicago He said في بيان بأنه كان موظفًا في جمعية التجارة غير الهادفة للربح ، والتي تركز على النهوض باستخدام تكنولوجيا المعلومات في طب العظام.
“We were shocked and saddened when we learned that AOIA employee was arrested as a suspect in this horrific crime,” said President and CEO of the American Orthopedic Association, which represents more than 197,000 bone doctors and orthopedic students.
“AOIA and AOA are ready to cooperate with the investigation in any possible way,” said a statement from AOA Teresa Hobka and CEO Cathlein Criston. “As a medical organization devoted to protecting the health of human and sacred life, we believe in the rights of all people to live safely without fear of violence.”
The LinkedIn account says to the suspect that AOIA has worked since July 2024 as an administrative specialist. Before that, he worked as a researcher in the oral history of Historymakers, according to the CV page that has now followed, prepared “the outlines of research and the biographies of prominent leaders in American -African society.”
Police and Federal Investigation Office are combed through the social media of the suspect, and the electronic devices belonging to the suspect were seized, according to the source of law enforcement.
No details were known about the purchase of weapons or the legitimacy of weapons early Thursday morning.
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Milton and
He contributed to this report.
