内容摘要：The suspect has been identified as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, Illinois. Following his arrest, his home was searched by police.

The suspect has been identified as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, Illinois. Following his arrest, his home was searched by police.

Meanwhile, in private talks, Ramaphosa and Trump were also expected to discuss foreign policy issues, including peace prospects between Russia and Ukraine and South Africa’s support for Palestine and its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).Some political observers said Pretoria is in the US crosshairs partly because of its actions against the key Washington ally.

Patrick Bond, a sociology professor at the University of Johannesburg, predicted before the talks that the US might offer to retract claims of “white genocide” in exchange for South Africa dropping its case at the ICJ.South Africa is seeking to hold Israel accountable for its assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians since October 2023. The US is Israel’s strongest ally and arms supplier.“We are very rational when it comes to discussing global and geopolitical matters. We will put South African positions first, and our foreign policy positions will be clarified,” Ramaphosa said before the meeting.

As the Gaza genocide case against Israel continues in The Hague, US allegations of a widely discredited “white genocide” in South Africa continue to follow the country’s leadership.Before Trump and Ramaphosa retreated to private meetings on Wednesday, a reporter asked the US president if he had decided whether genocide was being committed in South Africa. “I haven’t made up my mind,” he replied.

The unfounded claim of white genocide has “taken on a life of its own”, analyst Paolo von Schirach, president of the Global Policy Institute in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera.

It will be difficult for Ramaphosa and Trump to rebound after the Oval Office “ambush”, he said.Kristi Noem, secretary of Homeland Security, said federal authorities were investigating the incident and would bring its “depraved perpetrator” to justice. Jeanine Pirro, the interim US attorney for Washington, DC, said the killings were being investigated as a “hate crime and a crime of terrorism”.

Here is what we know so far:What is known about the shooting?

Officers responded to multiple calls about a shooting near the Capital Jewish Museum at about 9pm on Wednesday (01:00 GMT Thursday).The victims, a man and a woman, were leaving an event at the museum, which is in the area of 3rd and F streets in Northwest, Washington, DC, close to an FBI field office and the US attorney general’s office, when the suspect approached a group of four people and opened fire, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.