Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were named on Thursday morning as the victims of the Wednesday night shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC.
Lischinsky and Milgrim were both employees at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. According to Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, the two were about to be engaged and Lischinsky had purchased a ring this week with the intent to propose next week in Jerusalem.
Tal Naim Cohen, a spokesperson for the embassy, said the two were shot at close range while attending a Jewish event at the museum.
“Yaron and Sarah, 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,” she wrote in a later post.
“Instead of walking you down the aisle, we are walking with you to your graves. What an unbearable loss,” she said.
Lischinsky, 28, moved to Israel from Germany at the age of 16. He moved to the US in September 2022 to work in the political department of the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
According to the bio on his Times of Israel blog, Lischinsky had a master’s degree in Government, Diplomacy & Strategy from Reichman University and a bachelor’s in International Relations from Hebrew University.
He wrote on his LinkedIn page: “I’m an ardent believer in the vision that was outlined in the Abraham Accords and believe that expanding the circle of peace with our Arab neighbors and pursuing regional cooperation is in the best interest of the State of Israel and the Middle East as a whole. To this end, I advocate for interfaith dialogue and intercultural understanding.”
Milgrim worked in the public diplomacy department at the embassy. She held a master’s degree in international studies from American University and an additional master’s degree in natural resources and sustainable development from the United Nations University of Peace.
“My passion lies at the intersection of peacebuilding, religious engagement, and environmental work,” Milgram wrote on her LinkedIn page. “While working with Tech2Peace in Tel Aviv, Israel, I conducted comprehensive research on peacebuilding theory, emphasizing grassroots initiatives in the Israeli-Palestinian region”
“My diverse experiences, including facilitating insightful discussions on geopolitics in Israel and Palestine as a Jewish Educator, and researching an array of environmental topics in India and Central America, reflect my commitment to fostering understanding between different peoples,” she wrote.
Milgrim grew up in the Kansas City suburbs and was a teenager when a white supremacist shot and killed three people at Jewish institutions in that city. In her senior year of high school, she was active in responding after swastikas were painted at her high school. “I worry about going to my synagogue and now I have to worry about safety at my school and that shouldn’t be a thing,� she told a local news station at the time.
The embassy wrote on X that “Yaron and Sarah were our friends and colleagues. They were in the prime of their lives. This evening, a terrorist shot and killed them as they exited an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in DC.”
“The entire embassy staff is heartbroken and devastated by their murder. No words can express the depth of our grief and horror at this devastating loss. Our hearts are with their families, and the embassy will be by their side during this terrible time.”
The embassy shared a photo of the couple together that Lischinsky had posted on Twitter this month. It appeared to have been taken during an event at the embassy to mark Israel’s 77th Independence Day.
The two were killed Wednesday night as they were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum when the suspect approached a group of four people and opened fire, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.
The suspect, identified as Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, was observed pacing outside the museum before the shooting. He walked into the museum after the shooting and was detained by event security, Smith said.
When he was taken into custody, Rodriguez chanted, “Free, free Palestine,� Smith said. Smith said law enforcement did not believe there was an ongoing threat to the community.
The shooting was widely condemned by Israeli, US and world leaders as a despicable antisemitic crime, with the US vowing to prosecute the shooter to the full extent of the law.