Gunman Fired Repeatedly at Young Couple Outside Jewish Museum, F.B.I. Says

The gathering at the Capital Jewish Museum was quintessential Washington — a nighttime reception hosted by a national advocacy group, bringing together young professionals and foreign diplomats in a neighborhood not far from the Capitol.

On the street outside, a man who looked like just another young Washingtonian in a blue jacket and a backpack was pacing back and forth.

As two young aides at the Israeli Embassy who were dating left the reception, he turned to face their backs and pulled a 9-millimeter handgun from his waistband, according to an F.B.I. affidavit that cited surveillance video. Then he shot them again and again, reloading his pistol, shooting even after they fell and as the young woman was trying to crawl away.

The gunman then went inside the museum, where guests thought he was a bystander who had fled the shooting, and someone offered him a glass of water. Moments later, when the police apprehended him, he let out a cry that has become familiar on college campuses and at protests around the world: “Free, free Palestine!”

The killings punctuated a moment of rising tension in the United States and around the world, as college campuses, European capitals and American politics have been transformed by anger over the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel’s devastating bombing campaign in Gaza.

Across the world, offenses against Jewish people and property have increased sharply since the Hamas attacks and have remained at historically high levels as Israel has waged a military offensive and aid blockade that the Gaza Health Ministry says has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and left the population on the brink of starvation.