Ana Faguy
Reporting from Washington DC

Security in Washington is always tight, but streets blocks away from landmarks like the Capitol and the White House are usually relatively calm - that's not the case today.

Everywhere you turn outside the Capital Jewish Museum you can see flashing red and blue lights and officials in FBI uniforms.

Much of the area is blocked off with yellow caution tape and on every corner there are groups of television crews.

US Vice-President JD Vance says his "heart breaks" for the two people killed at the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday night.

"Antisemitic violence has no place in the United States," he says.

"We're praying for their families and all of our friends at the Israeli embassy, where the two victims worked."

A spokeswoman for the Israeli embassy in Washington says the death of two staff is "an unbearable loss".

Speaking about the victims - couple Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky - spokeswoman Tal Naim Cohen says "words cannot begin to describe the heartbreak and sorrow".

"Just this morning we were still laughing together by the coffee corner - and now, all that remains is a picture. Instead of walking you down the aisle, we are walking with you to your graves."

Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter

I've been speaking to people who knew Yaron Lischinsky, one of the two people shot dead on Wednesday night.

Jenny Havemann, who lives in the town of Ra'anana in Israel, knew Yaron when they were both part of a group of young German-Israelis who met regularly to promote good relations between the two countries.

Yaron reportedly held a German port.

Jenny describes him as "super super nice, modest, calm and friendly." "Yaron was part of a Christian Zionist group and he was very into bringing Germans and Israelis together," she says.

Another friend, Ronen Shoval, met Yaron at an adult education centre in Jerusalem.

Yaron was "a very polite man with a good character, and inspiring," he says.

"He wanted to learn all the time." Shoval adds that Yaron was "a very devout Christian" who moved to Israel from .

"Many people wanted to understand his background. He was a serious Christian believer," he says.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Washington DC

I'm heading to the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC, where two Israeli embassy staff were killed last night.

Outside the Israeli embassy, security looks much the same as usual.

News crews are lined up on the pavements, covering last night's events, and police cars are parked on nearby streets.

Apart from that, there are few signs of what happened.

Image source, Reuters

Katie Kalisher was at the Capital Jewish Museum event last night when the fatal shooting happened.

The 29-year-old jewellery designer tells Reuters the event was a chance to hear a discuss how different organisations and faiths from around the world "are working together to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza".

"So people that are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Israelis, whatever, they're all working together for this goal of helping innocent Palestinians," she says.

Kalisher re police and the Swat team searching for people and telling everyone to move into a corner, away from windows and doors, to "just try to keep us safe".

Given the situation, she says there was "a lot of chaos" and it all "just felt really surreal".

Image source, Reuters

Two employees of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC have died following a shooting near the Capital Jewish Museum.

The embassy has named Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgram as the victims. The pair have been identified as a couple who planned to get married.

The couple were shot dead as they were leaving an event at the museum shortly after 21:00 local time (01:00 GMT) last night. Diplomatic sources tell Reuters and AFP news agencies that Lischinksy was also a German national.

The suspect has been detained and was identified by police as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago. Police say he shouted "free Palestine" after being taken into custody. Officers will "look into ties to potential terrorism".

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith says the suspect was seen pacing up and down outside the museum before opening fire with a handgun on a group of four people.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar says the shooting is a result of "toxic antisemitic incitement" against Israelis and Jewish people around the world in the wake of the 7 Oct. 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel.

Sa'ar says the "incitement" was also sparked by leaders and officials of many countries and international organisations, especially from Europe. Earlier this week, multiple countries described Israel's new offensive in Gaza as "wholly disproportionate" - a statement that Israel's minister for diaspora affairs argues has "emboldened the forces of terror".

The UK, , and the European Union have all voiced their condemnation for the attack, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying "antisemitisim is an evil we must stamp out wherever it appears."

Image source, PA Media

We can bring you the latest reaction to last night's shooting from UK's Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He says he "thoroughly" condemns the "antisemitic attack" in Washington DC.

"Antisemitism is an evil we must stamp out wherever it appears," he says, adding that his thoughts are with the "colleagues, family and loved ones" of the victims.

He continues: "As always, I stand in solidarity with the Jewish community."

Israeli embassies around the world have lowered their flags to half-mast in memory of the victims. This comes following an announcement by Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa'ar.

He has said that the shooting is a result of "toxic antisemitic incitement against Israel and Jews around the world" since the Hamas attack on Israel in 7 Oct. 2023.

Image source, Embassy of Israel in New Delhi

Diplomatic sources tell Reuters and AFP news agencies that one of the Israeli embassy staff killed in the shooting, Yaron Lischinksy, had a German port.

The Times of Israel reports that 28-year-old Lischinksy moved to Israel as a teenager. In 2022, he relocated to Washington to work for the Israeli embassy, it adds.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called the attack "despicable".

Image source, Getty Images

At 21:08 local time (02:08 BST) on Wednesday, police received multiple calls about a shooting outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in downtown Washington DC.

A man and a woman were found unconscious and not breathing at the scene, and later died.

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) have alleged that the shooting was committed by Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, who is being questioned in custody.

MPD Chief Pamela Smith says Rodriguez was seen pacing up and down outside the museum before opening fire with a handgun on a group of four people.

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

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

Police have named Elias Rodriguez as the only suspect and say he has "implied that he committed the offence".

Rodriguez is 30 and from Chicago, according to police, and wasn't known to police before this incident.

Officers say the suspect chanted "free Palestine, free Palestine" while in custody.

The organiser of the event attended by the victims before the shooting says that, after the attack, the suspect went into the Capital Jewish Museum looking "very distraught". She didn't know he was the attacker and gave him water.

Image source, Reuters

Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, says he was horrified by "the deadly act of antisemitic violence".

"Antisemitism has no place in our nation, and its rise must be urgently crushed by people of goodwill across America and throughout the world," he says.

He sends his to the victims' loved ones and adds: "America will stand firmly with the Jewish community during this great hour of need."

Image source, Embassy of Israel to the USA

As we've been reporting, the two people killed in a shooting in Washington DC have been named by the Israeli foreign ministry as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim.

Both worked at Israel's embassy in Washington DC.

They were a couple, according to Israel's ambassador to the US, who said the young man had bought a ring this week and planned to propose next week in Jerusalem.

The pair had been at an event organised by the American Jewish Committee at the Capital Jewish Museum. It was described as a cocktail evening for young Jewish professionals and open to the DC diplomatic community. The organiser says the event aimed to help people in Gaza.

They were shot dead at around 21:05 local time (02:05 BST) as they were leaving the event.

Image source, Getty Images

The chief executive of the American Jewish Committee, which organised the event the victims attended before they were killed, has called the incident a "painful moment".

"This is a shocking act of violence and our community is holding each other tighter tonight," Ted Deutch writes. “We mourn with the victims’ families, loved ones, and all of Israel. May their memories be for a blessing."

The American Jewish Committee is a global advocacy group for Jewish people.

Staff at the Capital Jewish Museum, where the attack took place just outside, say they are "deeply saddened and horrified by the senseless violence outside the museum" yesterday evening.

In a post on X, they write: "Our condolences and heartfelt sympathies go to the victims and their families."

Shooting follows global criticism of Israel expanding Gaza offensivepublished at 09:55 British Summer Time

09:55 BST

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

This deadly shooting in Washington DC has come at a critical moment amid mounting international criticism over Israel’s expanding military offensive in Gaza and the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis there.

At a rare news conference on Wednesday, the Israeli prime minister rejected the condemnation of key allies. He said Israel was open to a temporary ceasefire to enable the return of hostages held by Hamas, but otherwise would press ahead with an intense campaign to gain total control of Gaza.

This week, amid warnings that famine is looming, Israel has eased its 11-week-long total blockade of Gaza, which it said was to put pressure on Hamas. Dozens of trucks of UN aid have now entered, but that is a fraction of what is desperately needed.

While officials in Israel have all blamed antisemitism for the killing of the young embassy staff, many have also linked it to recent global criticism of Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war.

One minister said the British and Canadian prime ministers and ’s president had “all in different ways emboldened the forces of terror”.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar has spoken about the deaths of two embassy staff in Washington DC.

He says he spoke to the father of Yaron Lischinsky and told him his son was a warrior who "fell as a soldier falls on the front lines".

Sa'ar says this attack is a "direct result of antisemitic incitement that has been absolutely toxic that has been going on since the 7 October massacre", when Hamas attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.

He says Israeli missions are targets of "antisemitic terrorism", adding that this incitement is coming from officials and leaders around the world, especially in Europe.

Image source, Getty Images

Israeli minister for diaspora affairs, Amichai Chikli, has issued a statement condemning the leaders of the UK, and Canada, accusing them of having "emboldened the forces of terror".

On Tuesday, Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney released a t statement, describing Israel's new Gaza offensive as "wholly disproportionate" and calling for restrictions on humanitarian aid to be lifted, warning of "concrete actions" if not.

In response to the shooting in Washington DC, Chikli points out that the suspect shouted "Free Palestine". He says those words have "become a banner not for peace but for hatred" and are being used to demonise Israel, accusing those saying it of "echoing antisemitism".

"We must also hold to the irresponsible leaders in the West who give backing to this hatred – whether through appeasement, double standards, or silence," he says, calling out the three leaders who he claims "have all, in different ways, emboldened the forces of terror through their failure to draw moral red lines".

"This cowardice has a price – and that price is paid in Jewish blood," Chikli says.

Countries including the UK and have responded to the shooting - David Lammy says it is an "appalling, antisemitic crime".

We’re starting to hear some first reactions from around the world.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says he is "horrified by the killing of two Israeli embassy staff" in Washington DC. He adds that the UK condemns the "appalling, antisemitic crime".

has also condemned the fatal shooting, calling it "an abhorrent act of antisemitic barbarity". French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot says "nothing can justify such violence".

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called it "a despicable act", condemning it "in the strongest " and saying "at the moment we must assume there was an anti-Semitic motive".

Italy's foreign minister says his country stands with Israel, as he condemned Wednesday's "scenes of terror and violence".

"There is and should be no place in our societies for hatred, extremism, or antisemitism," says EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.