The couple who were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington on Wednesday evening had plans to get engaged during an upcoming trip to Israel, Sarah Milgrim’s father told The New York Times in a new interview.
Milgrim and her partner Yaron Lischinsky, who both worked for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, were leaving an event at the museum about a mile away from the White House when a man approached them and later killed them, police said. The suspect, who has been identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, said “Free, free Palestine” after being taken into custody, authorities added.
Milgrim’s parents were informed of their daughter’s death by a call from Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. Leiter told the family that Lischinsky was planning to propose to their daughter during a planned trip to Jerusalem, Milgrim’s father, Robert Milgrim, recalled.
“The ironic part is that we were worried for our daughter’s safety in Israel,” he told the Times on Thursday. “But she was murdered three days before going.”
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Leiter confirmed Lischinsky’s plan to reporters, adding that he had already bought an engagement ring for the occasion.
Robert Milgrim said he grew alarmed about his daughter’s safety after getting news notifications about the shooting. Sarah Milgrim was a fellow at the organization that hosted Wednesday’s event at the Jewish museum, prompting her family to worry. Their fears were confirmed when her mother checked their family locator app and realized Sarah Milgrim was at the site of the shooting.
“I pretty much already knew,” her father said. “I was hoping to be wrong.”
Lischinsky was a research assistant for the embassy, while Sarah Milgrim worked on planning missions to Israel, according to The Associated Press. Separately, Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were working to restore relations between Israelis and Palestinians, advocacy groups they were part of told Reuters.
