Elias Rodriguez faces murder and other charges after allegedly gunning down two Israeli embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington.

Here's how events unfolded, per the criminal complaint and law enforcement authorities:

Rodriguez, 31, traveled to Washington from Chicago on Tuesday with a legally purchased gun in his checked baggage. He was in town to attend a work conference.

On Wednesday evening, the American Jewish Committee hosted a mixer at the Capital Jewish Museum. The Young Diplomats Reception went until 9 pm (0100 GMT Thursday) and aimed to "bring together Jewish young professionals and the DC diplomatic community."

At 9:08pm, Metropolitan Police responded to reports of a shooting. Officers found Israeli embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim had been shot.

Surveillance video showed a person wearing clothing consistent with Rodriguez's appearance approach the museum, where the victims were standing outside and preparing to enter a crosswalk.

The suspect walked past Lischinsky and Milgrim, then turned to shoot them in their backs, "firing several times," the complaint said.

"Once the decedents fell to the ground, Rodriguez is captured on video advancing closer... leaning over them... and firing several more times," the complaint said.

Rodriguez reloaded and fired several more times.

21 bullets

He was then seen "jogging" in the direction of the museum entrance.

A witness told police he saw Rodriguez throw something, and police recovered a gun from the area.

When police arrived, Rodriguez said "he 'did it' and that he was unarmed."

Rodriguez had a red keffiyeh and "spontaneously stated on scene to MPD, 'I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed.'"

He shouted "Free Palestine" as police arrested him.

At 9:14pm, Lischinsky, an Israeli citizen and an "official guest" of the US government, was pronounced dead on the scene from gunshot wounds.

At 9:35pm, Milgrim, an American employed by the Israeli embassy, was transported from the scene and pronounced dead after suffering multiple gunshot wounds.

Forensic analysis revealed Rodriguez fired 21 bullets from a 9 mm handgun, which he purchased legally in Illinois in 2020.

During an interview with police, Rodriguez expressed admiration for Aaron Bushnell, the former US serviceman who self-immolated outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, calling him a "martyr."

US President Donald Trump showed a screenshot of a Reuters video taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of what he falsely presented on Wednesday as evidence of mass killings of white South Africans.

"These are all white farmers that are being buried," said Trump, holding up a print-out of an article accompanied by the picture during a contentious Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

In fact, the video, published by Reuters on February 3 and subsequently verified by the news agency's fact check team, showed humanitarian workers lifting body bags in the Congolese city of Goma. The image was pulled from Reuters footage shot following deadly battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.

The blog post showed to Ramaphosa by Trump during the White House meeting was published by American Thinker, a conservative online magazine, about conflict and racial tensions in South Africa and Congo.

The post did not caption the image but identified it as a "YouTube screen grab" with a link to a video news report about Congo on YouTube, which credited Reuters.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Andrea Widburg, managing editor at American Thinker and the author of the post in question, wrote in reply to a Reuters query that Trump had "misidentified the image."

She added, however, that the post, which referred to what it called Ramaphosa's "dysfunctional, race-obsessed Marxist government", had "pointed out the increasing pressure placed on white South Africans."

The footage from which the picture was taken shows a mass burial following an M23 assault on Goma, filmed by Reuters video journalist Djaffar Al Katanty.

"That day, it was extremely difficult for journalists to get in ... I had to negotiate directly with M23 and coordinate with the ICRC to be allowed to film," Al Katanty said. "Only Reuters has video."

Al Katanty said seeing Trump holding the article with the screengrab of his video came as a shock.

"In view of all the world, President Trump used my image, used what I filmed in DRC to try to convince President Ramaphosa that in his country, white people are being killed by Black people," Al Katanty said.

Ramaphosa visited Washington this week to try to mend ties with the United States after persistent criticism from Trump in recent months over South Africa's land laws, foreign policy, and alleged bad treatment of its white minority, which South Africa denies.

Trump interrupted the televised meeting with Ramaphosa to play a video, which he said showed evidence of genocide of white farmers in South Africa. This conspiracy theory, which has circulated in far-right chat rooms for years, is based on false claims.

Trump then proceeded to flip through printed copies of articles that he said detailed murders of white South Africans, saying "death, death, death, horrible death".

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven democracies papered over their differences on Thursday, pledging to tackle "excessive imbalances" in the global economy and saying they could increase sanctions on Russia.

There had been doubt before the meeting whether it would issue a final communique, in light of divisions over US tariffs and Washington's reluctance to refer to Russia's war on Ukraine as illegal.

But after three days of talks, participants signed on to a lengthy document devoid of previous language on fighting climate change and which also softened references to the Ukraine war.

"We found common ground on the most pressing global issues that we face," Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told the closing press conference.

"I think it sends a very clear signal to the world ... that the G7 is united in purpose and in action."

The officials, who met in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, called for a common understanding of how "non-market policies and practices" undermine international economic security.

The document did not name China, but references by the United States and other G7 economies to non-market policies and practices are often targeted at its state subsidies and export-driven economic model.

The G7 statement omitted mention of US President Donald Trump's tariffs that are disrupting global trade and supply chains and swelling economic uncertainty.

Champagne downplayed the lack of communique language on tariffs, but said ministers "were not skating around" the issue and had discussed its impact. Canada seeks a deal to eliminate Trump's tariffs of 25% on many goods, such as steel and aluminum.

"We're trying to enhance growth and stability," he added. "And obviously tariffs are something in that context that you can't avoid discussing."

The gathering sets the stage for a summit of G7 leaders from June 15 to 17 in the nearby mountain resort area of Kananaskis. Trump will attend the summit, the White House confirmed on Thursday.

The G7 communique called for an analysis of market concentration and international supply chain resilience.

"We agree on the importance of a level playing field and taking a broadly coordinated approach to address the harm caused by those who do not abide by the same rules and lack transparency," the grouping said.

It also recognized an increase in low-value international "de minimis" package shipments that can overwhelm customs and tax collection systems and be used for smuggling drugs and other illicit goods.

The duty-free exemption for packages of value less than $800 has been exploited by Chinese e-commerce companies, such as Shein and Temu (PDD.O).

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa said it could not immediately comment on the G7 statement.

'BRUTAL' BUT NOT 'ILLEGAL' WAR

The G7 finance chiefs condemned what they called Russia's "continued brutal war" against Ukraine and said if ceasfire efforts failed, they would explore all possible options, including "further ramping up sanctions."

The description of the Ukraine war was watered down from October's G7 statement, opens new tab, before Trump's re-election, calling it an "illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine."

Trump has diminished US support for Ukraine and suggested that Kyiv was to blame for the conflict as he tries to coax Russia into peace talks.

But the G7 ministers pledged to work together to ensure no countries that financed the Russian war would be eligible to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.

"That's a very big statement," said Champagne, calling it a fundamental pillar of the communique. It did not name China or other countries the West has accused of supplying critical components to Russia in defiance of sanctions.

Russia's sovereign assets in G7 jurisdictions would remain immobilized until Moscow ended the war and paid for the damage it has caused to Ukraine, the communique said.

European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said the G7 ministers discussed a proposal to lower the G7-led price cap of $60 a barrel on Russian oil exports, since Russian crude is now selling below that.

But the plan was not mentioned in the communique, partly because US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was not convinced it was needed, a European official said.

Brent crude currently trades around $64 per barrel.

A European official said the United States is "not convinced" about lowering the Russian oil price cap.

A US Treasury spokesperson said only that Bessent's G7 engagements "were both pleasant and constructive, and we look forward to our future engagements with all of our G7 partners on issues of mutual interest."

Bessent came to Banff to the relief of many participants after he skipped a G20 finance meeting in February in the South African city of Cape Town.

G7 officials described his interactions as "constructive" and "flexible" and said some initial stiffness gave way to jokes over dinner.

"We had a feeling that it was a discussion between friends and allies," a French official said.

But Bessent took an unusually low profile for a US Treasury secretary at the G7 meeting, holding no news conference and largely operating out of sight of the press.

"I had a very productive day," he told a reporter on Wednesday, in his only public comment to media.