What we know about Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, 2 Israeli Embassy employees killed
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - On Wednesday evening, two staff of the Israeli Embassy in the nation’s capital were shot and killed Wednesday evening while leaving an event at a Jewish museum.
The American Jewish Committee confirmed that the two homicide victims were Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky.
Milgrim and Lischinsky were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum when the suspect approached a group of four people and opened fire, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.
Milgrim was from Overland Park, graduated from high school at Shawnee Mission East and then the University of Kansas in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies with a minor in anthropology. She also had a master’s in international affairs from American University.
Yechiel “Michael” Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, told CBS News that Lischinsky bought a ring this week “with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem.”
Lischinsky worked as a research assistant at the Israeli Embassy, where he was responsible for a number of tasks, including keeping its political department up to date on “important events and trends happening in the Middle East & North Africa,” according to his LinkedIn profile.
Lischinsky moved to Israel from at age 16, according to his profile, and he said that he had “the privilege of calling both Jerusalem and Nuremberg my home.”
Ron Prosor, a veteran Israeli diplomat, said that Lischinsky was a student of his at an Israeli university. He said that Lischinsky was Christian, “a true lover of Israel” who had served in the military “and chose to dedicate his life to the state of Israel.”
On his LinkedIn profile, Lischinsky said that he advocated for interfaith dialogue and intercultural understanding. He said that he was an “ardent believer” in deepening Israel’s ties with the Arab world through the U.S.-brokered agreements known as the Abraham Accords.
On Instagram, his bio included a yellow ribbon symbolizing the struggle to free the hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip.
He earned a master’s degree in government, diplomacy and strategy from Reichman University near Tel Aviv.
KU Hillel released a statement on Milgrim, saying she was an “active member of KU Hillel and the Jewish community.”
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