2 Killed in Shooting Outside DC Jewish Museum Hosting American Jewish Committee Event

The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations called the shooting “a depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.”

The Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)

By JTA Staff May 21, 2025 11:25 pm

This is a developing story. 

Two people were shot dead outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., where an event celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month was being held.

The victims were a man and a woman. The Israeli embassy said that two of its staff were shot.

“Two staff members of the Israeli embassy were shot this evening at close range while attending a Jewish event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC,” a spokesperson for the Israeli embassy said in a statement reported by multiple outlets. “We have full faith in law enforcement authorities on both the local and federal levels to apprehend the shooter and protect Israel’s representatives and Jewish communities throughout the United States.”

An alert from the Community Security Service, a Jewish security agency, also said the two victims were Israeli embassy employees. Police are questioning a person of interest. Attorney General Pam Bondi tweeted that she was “on the scene of the horrible shooting” along with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. “Praying for the victims of this violence as we work to learn more,” Bondi added.

The shooting is the latest fatal attack on a Jewish institution. The worst antisemitic attack in U.S. history occurred in 2018, when a gunman killed 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue. The following year saw three more fatal attacks on a synagogue in California, a rabbi’s house in New York and a kosher supermarket in New Jersey.

Since then, Jewish institutions have bolstered their security. The Capital Jewish Museum had just gotten a security grant from Washington, D.C. this week.

“The fatal shooting that took place outside the event that took place at the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. is a depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism,” said Israeli United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon in a statement. “Harming the Jewish community is crossing a red line. We are confident that the US authorities will take strong action against those responsible for this criminal act. Israel will continue to act resolutely to protect its citizens and representatives – everywhere in the world.”

The event was held by the American Jewish Committee, which had advertised a cocktail event for young Jewish professionals and diplomats on Wednesday. Its website said the location would be provided to those who registered, a practice that many Jewish groups have adopted at a time of high alert.

“We are devastated that an unspeakable act of violence took place outside the venue,” AJC CEO Ted Deutch said in a statement. “At this moment, as we await more information from the police about exactly what transpired, our attention and our hearts are solely with those who were harmed and their families.”