What to Know
- One National Guard member has died and another is in critical condition after they were shot in an ambush blocks from the White House in Washington, D.C.
- The sole suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, will be charged with murder, D.C.’s lead attorney Jeanine Pirro said.
- Lakanwal was identified as an Afghan national who served alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan. He also was shot and remains hospitalized.
- President Donald Trump called the attack “an act of terror” in an address, and the FBI is investigating the attack as an act of terrorism.
- The West Virginia National Guard members were deployed to D.C. as part of Trump’s monthslong crackdown on crime in the District.
A National Guard member remains in critical condition at a D.C. hospital on Friday after a gunman shot him and a fellow guard member in an ambush in downtown D.C. on Wednesday, authorities say. Specialist Sarah Beckstrom died on Thanksgiving at age 20.
Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, is “fighting for his life,” President Donald Trump said on a Thanksgiving call with U.S. troops. He announced that Beckstrom had died of her injuries.
“She’s no longer with us. She’s looking down at us right now. Her parents are with her,” Trump said.
Troops and first responders lined up outside MedStar Washington Hospital Center on Thanksgiving night to honor Beckstrom as her body was transported, video shows. The mood there was still somber early Friday.
The suspected shooter is Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29. He will be charged with murder, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said Friday morning on Fox News.
“We are upgrading the initial charges of assault to murder in the first degree,” Pirro said, describing an around-the-clock investigation.
No charges were immediately filed. Lakanwal was still hospitalized on Friday afternoon and was not expected in court until Monday at the earliest, a source told NBC News.
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey asked all state residents to observe a moment of silence or prayer at 2:15 p.m. Friday. They were shot shortly after that time on Wednesday.
“These two West Virginia heroes were serving our country and protecting our nation’s capital when they were maliciously attacked,” he said in a statement. “[…] I am asking every West Virginian to pause at 2:15 p.m. on Friday to pray for their families and their fellow service members.”
Morrisey ordered that flags are flown at half-staff in recognition of Beckstrom’s death.
Beckstrom worked full-time for Seneca Health Services, its CEO told NBC News. Its clinics provide treatment for substance use disorders, mental illness and more. She started the job in January.
Trump used his announcement to say the shooting was a “terrorist attack” and criticized the Biden administration for enabling Afghans who worked with U.S. forces during the Afghanistan War to enter the U.S. The president has deployed National Guard members in part to assist in his administration’s mass deportation efforts.
Trump brandished a print-out of a news photo of Afghan evacuees sitting on the floor of a military plane during the chaotic evacuation from Kabul in 2021 during his remarks. He suggested that the shooter was mentally unstable after the war and departure from Afghanistan.
“He went cuckoo. I mean, he went nuts,” the president said. “It happens too often with these people.”
The shooter worked with U.S. forces in Afghanistan
Lakanwal had worked in a special CIA-backed Afghan Army unit before emigrating from Afghanistan to the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country, officials said. Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration, but his asylum was approved under the Trump administration, #AfghanEvac said in a statement.
Still, Trump blamed the asylum process in which Afghans who worked with U.S. forces arrived by plane for being ineffective and failing to ensure people were properly vetted.
“We have no greater national security priority than ensuring that we have full control over the people that enter and remain in our country,” Trump said. “For the most part, we don’t want them.”
Pirro declined to provide a motive for Wednesday afternoon’s brazen act of violence which occurred just blocks from the White House. The presence of troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has become a political flashpoint.
Pirro said that the suspect launched an “ambush-style” attack with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver. As of Thursday morning, the suspect faced charges of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, but Pirro suggested the charges would be upgraded if one of the National Guard members died, as happened later on Thursday.
The rare shooting of National Guard members on American soil comes amid court fights and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration’s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem.
Trump issued an emergency order in August that federalized the D.C. police force and sent in National Guard troops. The order expired a month later. But the troops have remained in the city, where nearly 2,200 troops currently are assigned, according to the government’s latest update.
The guard members have patrolled neighborhoods, train stations and other locations, participated in highway checkpoints and been assigned to pick up trash and guard sports events. The Trump administration quickly ordered 500 more National Guard members to Washington following Wednesday’s shooting.
The suspect also was shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
News4 sends breaking news stories by email. Go here to sign up to get breaking news alerts in your inbox.
Want more insights? Join Grow With Caliber - our career elevating newsletter and get our take on the future of work delivered weekly.
