Couple shot dead outside Jewish museum in Washington DC

A couple described as being in the "prime of their lives" have been shot dead in Washington DC outside a Jewish museum, by a man who police say shouted "free, free Palestine" after the attack.

Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, who both worked for the Israeli Embassy, were gunned down outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday night.

Elias Rodriguez, 30, from Chicago, who police allege is the shooter, is in custody.

The FBI says it is looking into "ties to potential terrorism or motivation based on bias-based crime or a hate crime".

President Donald Trump has condemned the attack and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was "outraged by the horrifying antisemitic murder" of the victims.

• Follow live coverage of the DC shooting

The couple were leaving a networking event, organised by the American Jewish Committee, at the museum around 21:08 (local time) when a man opened fire with a handgun at a group of four people.

The suspect then went inside the museum, where he was detained. Police said he chanted "free, free Palestine" while in custody.

"We heard gunshots and then a guy came in looking really distressed. We thought he needed help," eyewitness Katie Kalisher told the BBC, referring to the suspect.

Metropolitan Police Department chief Pamela Smith said officers "have not had any prior interactions" and did not see anything in his background "that would have placed him on our radar".

Mr Lischinsky had been planning to propose to his girlfriend, Miss Milgrim, next week, said the Israeli Ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, who was not at the event.

"They were a beautiful couple," he told a press conference.

Writing on Truth Social, Trump said: "These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA."

Netanyahu said security at Israeli embassies around the world would be stepped up following the attack.

"My heart aches for the families of the beloved young man and woman, whose lives were cut short by a heinous antisemitic murderer," he said.

"We are witnessing the terrible price of antisemitism and wild incitement against the state of Israel."

The shooting, which happened in a downtown area of the city that has numerous tourist sites, museums and government buildings, triggered a major police response and shut down several main streets.

Israeli embassy spokesman Tal Naim Cohen confirmed that two staff were shot "at close range".

The embassy had "full faith" that authorities would "protect Israel's representatives and Jewish communities throughout the United States", he said.

JoJo Kalin, a board member of the American Jewish Committee who helped organise the event, said she did not witness the shooting but felt a "sense of guilt" about what happened.

"I'm not going to lose my humanity over this or be deterred. And that Israelis and Palestinians both still deserve self-determination and [it is] just deeply ironic that that's what we were discussing," she said.

The event was billed as a networking opportunity to bring Jewish young professionals and the diplomatic community together. Its description said humanitarian aid organisers responding to humanitarian crises in the Middle East, including Gaza, were invited.

The Capital Jewish Museum, like many other Jewish institutions in the US, has struggled with security issues amid rising antisemitism.

"Jewish institutions all around town, all around the country, are concerned about security due to some very scary incidents that some institutions have faced and because of a climate of antisemitism," executive director Beatrice Gurwitz told NBC News in a separate news report before the attack on Wednesday.

The museum recently received a grant to upgrade its security in part, she said, because of a new exhibit on LGBT pride.