Gunman believed to have acted alone, says Pam Bondi
Authorities believe the suspect in last night’s fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers acted alone, the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, has said.
She called the attack “horrific” and said security has been increased in many areas following the shooting.
Key events
Judge blocks Trump’s executive order to shut down the Education Department
A federal judge has blocked President Trump’s executive order to shut down the Department of Education and ordered the agency to reinstate employees who were fired in mass layoffs.
US District Judge Myong Joun in Boston granted a preliminary injunction stopping the Trump administration from carrying out two plans announced in March that sought to work toward Trump’s goal to dismantle the department.
The injunction was requested in a lawsuit filed by the Somerville and Easthampton school districts in Massachusetts and the American Federation of Teachers, along with other education groups.
The groups argued that the layoffs amounted to an illegal shutdown of the Education Department. They said it left the department unable to carry out responsibilities required by Congress, including supporting special education, distributing financial aid and enforcing civil rights laws.
FBI agents were present this morning at the Chicago apartment where Elias Rodriguez, the man whom authorities suspect of shooting and killing two Israeli Embassy workers, reportedly lived, the New York Times reported.
Agents blocked the sidewalk in front of the apartment building, and some were seen going in and out of the apartment, including two agents in full tactical gear. Bomb technicians were also reportedly present at the scene.
The Times reports that in the window of the apartment where Rodriguez lived were two signs related to Palestine. One sign read “Justice for Wadea,” a reference to the 6-year-old Palestinian American boy killed in Chicago two years ago. Another sign read “Tikkun Olam means free Palestine.” (Tikkun Olam is a Hebrew phrase that means “repairing the world.”)
Pam Bondi just spoke to the media near the scene, saying:
Our Jewish community must feel safe. What we saw last night was disgusting … The hate has got to stop and it’s got to stop now.
She said she it “broke my heart” to speak to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, last night and said “there is no place for this hate in our country”.
Bondi said security had been increased in the area, particularly around the Israeli embassy.
Gunman believed to have acted alone, says Pam Bondi
Authorities believe the suspect in last night’s fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers acted alone, the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, has said.
She called the attack “horrific” and said security has been increased in many areas following the shooting.
There are reports that the suspect published a manifesto before the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington last night. The statement was reportedly posted on social media and signed by the suspect. The Guardian has not been able to independently verify this.
My colleagues have put together this video in which witnesses recount the shooting of engaged couple Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky as they were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington last night. The suspect approached a group of four people and opened fire. Identified as Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, he was seen pacing outside the museum before the shooting. He walked into the museum after and was detained by event security. Social media footage shows the suspect shouting “Free, free Palestine” after being arrested.
Person in custody after reported shooting outside CIA headquarters – Reuters
Security guards opened fire on Thursday on a person outside the gates of the CIA’s headquarters and then took the suspect into custody, the intelligence agency said.
A CIA spokesperson said security staff “engaged a person” outside the main gates, and a source familiar with the matter told Reuters the suspect was a woman.
The spokesperson declined to say whether gunfire struck the suspect or to disclose any other details of the incident, except to say the person was now in custody.
NBC News reported earlier that the person was shot, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.
It was not immediately known why security officers opened fire or what the person was doing at the time of the shooting.
The incident occurred around 4am ET, a Fairfax police spokesperson told ABC News.
The CIA closed the main gate at its Langley compound and directed employees to seek alternate routes.
The shooting incident came after two Israeli Embassy staffers were killed by a lone gunman in Washington on Wednesday night. There was no indication the incidents were related.
In a post on X, the Israeli foreign ministry said that following the killings of embassy staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lichinsky in Washington last night, flags at the foreign ministry and around the world have been lowered to half-mast in mourning.
Israel’s minister of economy and industry, Nir Barkat, arrived at the scene where two Israeli embassy staff were shot dead near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC bearing flowers:
Lee Zeldin, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency chief, has said he was “heartbroken” to learn of the death of Sarah Milgrim, one of the two Israeli embassy staffers killed last night in Washington.
Zeldin, who is Jewish, wrote on X:
I just met Sarah two weeks ago in my office at EPA HQ. She struck me as a young woman filled with life and positivity.
The US vice-president, JD Vance, has said “antisemitic violence has no place in the United States” following the killings of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington last night. He posted on X:
My heart breaks for Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, who were murdered last night at the Capital Jewish Museum. Antisemitic violence has no place in the United States. We’re praying for their families and all of our friends at the Israeli Embassy, where the two victims worked.
Controversial Israeli philosopher Ronen Shoval has posted a tribute to Yaron Lischinsky, one of the two Israeli embassy staffers killed in Washington last night, who he says was once a student of his.
Shoval, the founder of the Zionist movement Im Tirtzu and dean of the Argaman Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem, wrote on X:
The beloved Yaron Lishansky was my student at the Argaman Institute, a graduate of the Exodus program. He was a Christian, a great lover of Israel, who immigrated to Israel, served in the army, and decided to dedicate his life to the State of Israel and Zionism. A wonderful life story of a man with moral clarity, a Righteous Among the Nations in our generation, who decided to tie his life to the fate of the Jewish people.
