Witnesses to the barbaric shooting of two young Israeli diplomats in Washington, DC, offered comfort to the alleged killer assuming he was a victim in an unmitigated display of humanity at the darkest possible time.
Suspect Elias Rodriguez, 31, was seen pacing back and forth outside the Capital Jewish Museum in the moments following the cold-blooded double slaying. Those at the scene rushed to his aid, not knowing he was the alleged perpetrator.
“He was soaking wet. He was wearing a suit, glasses, brownish-black hair. He was pretty much in a state of shock. He sat by himself. He was pacing,” Yoni Kalin, 31, a witness inside the event Wednesday night told The Post.
“We just thought he was a bystander,” he said, adding people brought him water and checked in on him.
“About five or ten minutes later when the police showed up inside, he said to them, ‘I did this. I did this for Gaza.’ Then he did his ‘Free, Free Palestine. From the river to the sea and there’s only one solution, intifada revolution.’”
He said they didn’t realize at first that he was the shooter because they thought he was a protester.
Yaron Lischinsky, 28, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, were executed in the street just after 9 p.m. as they left the American Jewish Committee’s ACCESS Young Diplomats Reception.
They worked together out of the Israeli Embassy in DC, and their friendship blossomed into a whirlwind romance which was cut tragically short by a gunman’s bullets.
“After the two rounds of gunshots about 30 seconds later a man comes running in clearly distressed. We all figured he was a witness [because] he was so shaken up,” witness Sara Marinuzzi told The Post via text message.
“People [offered] him water and [asked] if he’s ok. He just continues to say call the police and is in the room with us for 10-15 mins while we think we are safe and he was just a bystander.”
She said police cars began swarming the streets outside the museum, at which point those inside were herded away from the windows.
“About 10 minutes later one of my friends is talking to the distressed guy from outside asking how he is doing and if he knows where he is since you know it is a Jewish museum,” Marinuzzi said.
“He acts oblivious at first and then as soon as a cop walks up he yells ‘I did it. I did it for Palestine. Free Gaza, Free Palestine.’”
She said Rodriguez then reached into a backpack, sparking fear among those nearby who thought he might have been reaching for a bomb or a gun.
“Luckily [he] ends up pulling out a keffiyeh, and this is when one of my friends yells get him outside and the cops get a hold of him and bring him out,” she said.
The alleged terrorist was then bear-hugged by security and subdued by other witnesses before police showed up and arrested him. He shouted “Free, free Palestine” as he was being pulled out of the doors of the museum.
Although Marinuzzi said she considers herself “lucky to be alive” after the horrifying attack, offering to help a man she thought was in need seemed like the right thing to do.
“When a man comes running in distressed immediate instinct is to help and that’s what we did.”
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