Sarah Milgrim, a 26-year-old who grew up in Johnson County, Kansas, was one of the victims of a fatal shooting last night in Washington, D.C.
The shooting took place outside the Capitol Jewish Museum, where an event was taking place for young Jewish diplomats. Milgrim and her partner, Yaron Lischinsky, 30, were outside the museum when a gunman approached their group and opened fire.
Milgrim and Lischinsky both worked for the Israeli Embassy.
The gunman, Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, is now in custody. Authorities say he chanted “free, free Palestine” after he was detained.
Sarah’s father, Robert Milgrim, told KCUR’s Up To Date the morning after the killing that education is important to stop acts of violence like the ones that took his daughter’s life.
“There just needs to be something done to make people realize that we're many different people living in the U.S., but there's no reason to hate one another,” he said. “This hate cannot divide us. We need to overcome it.”
Robert Milgrim said his daughter and Lischinsky were about to travel to Israel on Sunday to meet Lischinsky’s family. Milgrim said he did not know Lischinsky was planning to propose to his daughter until last night, when Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. called the family to tell them the tragic news.
“He was like a renaissance man,” Robert Milgrim said of Lischinsky. “We could not have been happier. … We knew the relationship had grown to be very serious.”
Sarah Milgrim grew up in Prairie Village and attended Shawnee Mission East High School.
The Shawnee Mission School District confirmed to the Johnson County Post that Milgrim graduated in 2017.
Ken Foley, the school’s choral director, told the Post that Milgrim was a four-year member of the Shawnee Mission East choir, “one of our great sopranos,” and “happy, funny, quirky and super smart.”
Milgrim graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in environmental science. Her father said she was passionate about the environment.
In Lawrence, she was also part of the Jewish student organization KU Hillel.
In a statement on Facebook, KU Hillel said Sarah had a “bright spirit and passion for the Jewish community (that) touched everyone fortunate enough to know her.”
Later, Milgrim entered a program between American University in Washington and the United Nations University for Peace, for which she spent time studying in Costa Rica. Milgrim’s father said her master’s degree was in international studies and sustainable global development.
Sarah Milgrim worked for Tech2Peace, an organization offering entrepreneurial training and conflict dialogue for Israelis and Palestinians.
“She did the camaraderie type of thing, of trying to do the peace building between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” Robert Milgrim said. “She was passionate about that.”
Milgrim said his daughter started working for the Israeli Embassy before the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.
“One of the most important things that she did, she hosted many of the hostage families when they would come to the U.S.,” he said, “and she would take them to the State Department.”
Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog said in a statement that Sarah Milgrim was a former city intern "with strong ties to Overland Park."
"Sarah dedicated herself to public service and peacemaking, and her death is a tragedy for the Overland Park community," Skoog wrote.
Milgrim was a member of The Temple, Congregation B'nai Jehudah in Overland Park. A statement from Rabbi Stephanie Kramer said Sarah was “a devoted Zionist and a radiant presence in every space she entered.”
“Her commitment wasn’t just professional; it was deeply personal, rooted in her upbringing, her values and her unshakable identity,” Kramer wrote in the statement. “Sarah grew up in our community. She celebrated with us, learned with us and inspired us with her integrity and purpose. She stood for something larger than herself and she paid the ultimate price for it.”
Congregation Beth Torah in Overland Park said in a Facebook post that Sarah became a Bat Mitzvah in 2012 and was confirmed in 2015.
“Her religious school teachers spoke about her with deep affection, calling out her enthusiasm for learning, her bright intellect, and her deep kindness,” the statement said.
The Jewish community in Overland Park, Kansas, was the target of an antisemitic attack in 2014, when a self-avowed white supremacist drove to multiple Jewish sites and killed three people. The shooter was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, but passed away in prison in 2021.
In 2017, Milgrim, then a high school senior, was interviewed by KSHB-41 regarding vandalism showing swastikas on Shawnee Mission East buildings.
“I worry about going to my synagogue and now I have to worry about safety at my school and that shouldn’t be a thing," she told KSHB at the time.
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