Kansas dad sensed daughter was killed in Israeli embassy staff shooting: ‘Panic’
His wife was asleep. And Robert Milgrim of Prairie Village was getting ready for bed Wednesday night, when, around 11 p.m., his phone began to flash with news out of Washington, D.C. A couple had been shot not far from the Capital Jewish Museum.
In that moment, he already sensed it.
“The more I read, the more I thought, ‘It could be Sarah,” Milgrim said Thursday of his daughter, Sarah Lynn Milgrim.
Milgrim on Thursday morning sat in his Prairie Village living room, wearing a gray sweatshirt from his daughter’s college alma mater, the University of Kansas, as the doorbell rang and friends, clergy and media came to their door.
Nancy Milgrim, Sarah Milgrim’s mother, stood with friends, weary and grieving, as the family began the task of arranging the details of their 26-year-old daughter’s funeral.
‘Hoping it wasn’t her’
Milgrim said that on Wednesday night he immediately tried to call his daughter’s phone — but there was no answer — and then police and even the FBI, to get details. “Panic,” he said, “You know panic, and hoping it wasn’t her.”
The news sites, however, kept reporting that it was a “young couple” working at the Israeli Embassy that had been shot.
“When they said, ‘a young couple — male and female,’” Milgrim said he sensed it was Sarah and her boyfriend, Yaron Lischinsky.
“They’re the only male and female couple that age. They’re dating. They met at the embassy,” he said.
When he got on the phone with authorities, he told them: “’This is Robert Milgrim. From the news reports, this may be my daughter,’ ... but they didn’t have information.”
From further news reports at about 1:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. , Nancy Milgrim found the address of the shooting.
“It wasn’t two or three minutes later that the Israeli ambassador himself called us,” Milgrim said. “He told us the news. .... He was very, very ... He could not have been nicer.”
Couple was about to be engaged
It was then that the ambassador also shared news that the Milgrims suspected might be coming, but did not know for sure.
On Sunday, the couple, having dated for about 18 months, were to fly to Israel to meet his parents for the first time. The Milgrims knew that the relationship was serious.
Lischinsky had already spent numerous days at the family’s Prairie Village home.
“The ambassador told us that Yaron had bought her an engagement ring last week. We knew nothing about it,” Milgrim said, although he said the news would have been greatly welcomed.
“He stayed at our house at least 10 days, twice. We went to D.C. fairly often. We thought he was unbelievable,” Milgrim said of Lischinsky. “He spoke five languages. He was a true Renaissance person. He did everything. Everything was perfect. She was happier than she ever was.
“And the ironic part: We were worried about her going to Israel because of everything. And she gets shot on the streets of D.C.”
Sarah Milgrim, her father said, was passionate, particularly about the environment. She was a 2017 graduate of Shawnee Mission East High School. The second of two children, with an older brother, Jacob, age 28, Sarah Milgrim as a child sang opera twice with the children’s chorus at the Lyric Opera.
After high school, Milgrim attended and, in 2021, graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in environmental science, where she also had been a beekeeper.
Milgrim, her father said, went on to earn two master’s degrees, one from American University in Washington, D.C., and a second from the United Nations’ University for Peace in Costa Rica. Her focus was on international studies and on international sustainable development.
She thought she might work for USAID, but also applied for a position at the Israeli embassy.
“She had a passion for Israel,” her father said.
Sarah Milgrim was offered a position at the embassy in 2023 in the weeks prior to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, the aftermath of which led to the war in Gaza.
“You know, she was a really special person,” Nancy Milgrim said of her daughter. “And she devoted her life to giving to others, and supporting Israel, and working for peace in the region — and just really wanted peace.”
‘I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,’ suspect told police
The shooting Wednesday occurred just after 9 p.m. outside the Capital Jewish Museum, where Milgrim and Lischinsky had been attending an event for young diplomats, hosted by the American Jewish Committee.
Washington, D.C., police took a suspect, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, into custody. Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith told media that Rodriguez chanted “Free, free Palestine. Free, free Palestine” after being taken into custody by security guards.
On Thursday, Rodriguez was charged with first-degree murder and other crimes. According to an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Rodriguez told police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” when he was taken into custody.
Milgrim served on the board of directors of KU Hillel. The group released a statement expressing “profound sadness.”
“Sarah’s bright spirit and passion for the Jewish community touched everyone fortunate enough to know her,” it reads. “Those closest to her describe (her) as ‘the definition of the best person.’ . . .In the face of such hateful violence, we come together as a community to support one another and to honor Sarah’s memory.”
In a message to The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah also released a statement, saying “Our beloved community has been struck by devastating tragedy.”
“We mourn the loss of Sarah Milgrim, a proud member of our congregation, a devoted Zionist and a radiant presence in every space she entered.
“Each and every time we saw Bob and Nancy Milgrim, they kvelled and beamed with joy and pride about Sarah’s work and her steadfast devotion to Judaism and to Israel. ... Our hearts ache for Bob, Nancy, Jacob and all their extended family — cherished members of our congregation, who are now bearing an unspeakable loss.”
This story was originally published May 22, 2025 at 1:31 PM.
