The man suspected of shooting two members of a West Virginia National Guard unit in Washington, D.C., has a connection to San Diego, the FBI chief said Thursday.
FBI Director Kash Patel said, “We have also executed multiple search warrants around the country to include the subject’s last known residence … we will not stop until we interview anyone and everyone associated with the subject, the hous, and every piece of his life. There’s also subject interviews, relations conducted in San Diego, pursuant to our ongoing investigation.”
Patel described the probe as a “coast-to-coast investigation,” and added that pursuant to that investigation and any known associates of the subject and of that house is how we ended up in San Diego, where interviews were conducted and are going to continue to be conducted.”
National Guard members shot in D.C.
“During that process, we seized numerous electronic devices, to include cell phones, laptops, iPads and other material that is being analyzed as we speak,” Patel continued. “… Interviews were conducted and are going to be continue to be conducted, and we will go anywhere in the country or the world where the evidence leads us.”
In an emailed response Thursday, a spokesperson for the FBI’s San Diego office did not provide further details about the case and referred media outlets to “remarks made during the [earlier] press conference.”
On Wednesday afternoon, a gunman shot two members of the West Virginia National Guard “in an ambush-style attack” in the nation’s capital. Twenty-year-old Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and Pfc. Andrew Wolfe, 24, were in critical condition after undergoing surgery, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Thursday. Later in the day, President Trump said Beckstrom had succumbed to her injuries
The shooter is believed to have acted alone.
The suspect has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29. He is an Afghan national from Bellingham, Washington, who worked with a CIA-backed military unit during the war in Afghanistan, the intelligence agency said, before coming to the U.S. in 2021 under a Biden administration program designed to help Afghans who assisted U.S. forces and were facing a Taliban takeover. Lakanwal was granted asylum this year after a parole period, two sources told NBC News.
Officials said Lakanwal — who is married and has five children — “drove from his residence in Washington state to the nation’s capital prior to the shooting and targeted the” National Guard members.
Following the shooting, the Trump administration suspended processing all immigration requests from Afghans, according to a BBC report.
The leader of a San Diego-based nonprofit that helps relocate and resettle Afghan allies said Thursday that the Afghan community “should not be scapegoated because of the shooting.”
“Afghan wartime allies risked their lives for U.S. missions,” said Shawn VanDiver, president and board chairman of AfghanEvac. “This single act does not reflect Afghan values, AfghanEvac partners or the tens of thousands of Afghans building safe, productive lives in the U.S.
“People are terrified right now. They’re hiding in their homes and afraid to take their kids to the park,” VanDiver told NBC 7 Thursday morning. “Thanksgiving is ruined for so many families.”
The fear is like the fear many felt fleeing in the first place when the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan ended in August 2021.
“This man acted alone,” VanDiver said. “It is not indicative of the larger Afghan community. He’s a deranged man, and whether he was from Afghanistan, Missouri, Texas or California, we don’t apply his crime to all the people from that place.”
Want more insights? Join Grow With Caliber - our career elevating newsletter and get our take on the future of work delivered weekly.
