What to Know
- Two National Guard members, a woman and a man in their 20s, had surgery after they were shot in an ambush blocks from the White House in Washington, D.C. It’s unclear if they will survive, officials said.
- The sole suspect was shot and taken into custody shortly after the shooting. He’s been identified as an Afghan national who served alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
- Officials say it’s too early to determine a motive for the shooting. The suspect faces charges, including three counts of assault with intent to kill.
- 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 injured West Virginia National Guard members were deployed to D.C. as part of Trump’s monthslong crackdown on crime in the District.
President Donald Trump said Sarah Beckstrom, who was one of two National Guard members attacked near the White House on Wednesday, died on Thanksgiving Day.
“We’re talking about, highly respected, young, magnificent person, started service in June of 2023 outstanding in every way. She’s just passed away,” Trump said.
Two National Guard members “ambushed in a brazen, targeted attack” near the White House on Wednesday were shot by a suspect who drove across the country to carry out the assault, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said. The FBI is investigating the attack as an act of terrorism.
Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, underwent surgery after the attack. Beckstrom is from Webster Springs and Wolfe is from Martinsburg, West Virginia.
Beckstrom and Wolfe were sworn in less than 24 hours before they were “ambushed in a brazen, targeted attack,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said Thursday.
They were shot in the head, according to a U.S. official and a senior official directly briefed on the investigation. Pirro said she was praying they will survive.
“It’s not clear, you know, how this is going to end up,” Pirro said.
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said he visited Beckstrom, Wolfe and their families on the morning of Thanksgiving, as well as other guard members on the ground in D.C.
“I’m asking every West Virginian to pray for our two Guardsmen as their families, friends, and neighbors struggle with this unspeakable tragedy,” Morrisey said.
The suspect has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29. He was 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.
“We’re working very closely with our federal partners … to review his immigration history and the vetting process itself,” Pirro said.
President Donald Trump called for a “re-examination” of all Afghan nationals who came to the U.S. during the Biden administration hours after the shooting, NBC News reported.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph B. Edlow said on social media that he “directed a full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern” hours after he announced the agency would stop processing Afghan nationals’ immigration requests.
Beckstrom and Wolfe were patrolling in uniform to “keep D.C. safe,” amid a monthslong National Guard deployment ordered by President Donald Trump, and “put their lives on the line for people they don’t even know,” Pirro said, after noting their families “are shattered and destroyed.”
“Andy and Sarah’s families, they’re spending the day reflecting on the past, and in the days coming they’ll reflect on and think about what could have been, what might be. Because regardless of the outcome, we know that their lives, their families’ lives, are all changed forever because one person decided to do this horrific and evil thing,” Brig. Gen. Leland Blanchard, Interim Commanding General of the D.C. National Guard, said.
Attack began ‘without provocation,’ Pirro said
Lakanwal drove to D.C. with the purpose of carrying out an attack, officials said.
He allegedly fired a revolver “without provocation,” Pirro said, after turning a corner near 17th street and I streets NW.
“One guardsman is struck, goes down, and then the shooter leans over and strikes the guardsman again,” Pirro said. “Another guardsman is struck several times.”
A guard member then shot the suspect, Pirro said. The suspect was taken to a hospital, where he remained Thursday morning under heavy guard.
“Thanks to the swift and coordinated response of the National Guard and the Metropolitan Police Department, no additional victims were harmed, and the scene was secured within minutes,” Pirro said.
One of the injured National Guard members was taken to a hospital via medevac helicopter. The other guard member and the suspect were taken to a hospital by ambulance.
Suspect faces charges of assault with intent to kill, but motive unclear
Lakanwal faces charges including three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and one count of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Pirro said he could face up to 15 years in jail if convicted.
“We intend to continue monitoring what the charges will be depending upon the well-being of the guardsmen. We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree. But make no mistake, if they do not that will certainly be the charge murder in the first degree,” she said.
It’s too early to determine a motive behind the shooting, Pirro said. The suspect drove to D.C. from Washington state. The night following the shooting, law enforcement searched the home the suspect shares with his wife and five children.
FBI Director Kash Patel said “all individuals in the house have been interviewed” and vowed the FBI would interview “anyone and everyone associated with the subject,” including known associates overseas. He described an “ongoing investigation of terrorism” that stretches coast to coast and internationally.
Pirro said authorities are working closely with federal partners, especially the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, to review his immigration history and the vetting process.
The suspect was detained shortly after the shooting, and authorities believe he was the only gunman.
President Donald Trump called the attack “an act of terror” in an address Wednesday night and said “every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden” must be re-examined.
Trump asked for 500 additional National Guard members to be deployed in D.C. after the shooting.
FBI agents will spend Thanksgiving investigating the shooting as a possible act of terrorism, two senior U.S. law enforcement officials told NBC News.
After the scene at 17th and I streets NW was secured, a sign was posted on an elevator to the Farragut West Metro Station.
“Prayers and love to the National Guard soldiers and their families,” the sign, which appeared handwritten, said. It was signed, “Heartbroken and strong with you.”
National Guard in DC ‘being tested’ amid monthslong deployment
The victims belong to the West Virginia National Guard, which deployed hundreds of troops to the nation’s capital as part of President Donald Trump’s crime-fighting mission that involved taking over the local police department. There were nearly 2,200 Guard members in D.C. for the mission.
National Guard members were seen praying outside MedStar Washington Hospital Center on Wednesday night.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who’s been opposed to the deployment of guard troops in D.C. since it began, said the victims should be at home with their families.
“These young people should be at home in West Virginia with their families,” she said.
Pirro, while responding to a reporter’s question about people upset with the deployment of guard troops, defended the president’s crime crackdown.
“We ought to kiss the ground and thank God that the president said it’s time to bring in more law enforcement to make sure that a city that had the fourth-highest homicide rate in the country that violence was quelled. I’m not even going to go there,” Pirro said.
Blanchard, the leader of D.C.’s National Guard, asked Americans to pray for National Guard members.
“I will say that the District of Columbia National Guard, this task force, is more committed this morning to the President’s directive to make D.C. safe and beautiful. Our resolve will be tested. It is being tested. But make no mistake, each and every one of these soldiers and airmen will meet and exceed the expectation that we have for them,” he said.
West Virginia’s governor initially posted on social media that two of his state’s Guard members were killed. He later walked that back, saying his office was “receiving conflicting reports” about their condition. Morrisey has not elaborated.
What is known about the suspect
A relative of Lakanwal told NBC News the suspect arrived in the U.S. in September 2021 after serving in the Afghan Army for 10 years, alongside U.S. Special Forces troops. He was stationed at a base in Kandahar for part of that time, the relative said. He came to the U.S. after the Taliban took over and eventually settled in Washington state.
Lakanwal worked with a CIA-backed military unit during the war in Afghanistan, the Central Intelligence Agency said today.
“In the wake of the disastrous Biden Withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden Administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. Government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation,” Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement.
“This individual — and so many others — should have never been allowed to come here. Our citizens and servicemembers deserve far better than to endure the ongoing fallout from the Biden Administration’s catastrophic failures. God bless our brave troops,” Ratcliffe said.
A CIA spokesperson said that the alleged shooter “previously worked with the USG (U.S. government), including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar that ended in 2021 following the withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
The relative said he served with Lakanwal supporting U.S. troops and was injured during his time in uniform.
“We were the ones that were targeted by the Taliban in Afghanistan,” he said. “I cannot believe it that he might do this.”
Lakanwal grew up in Khost Province.
The relative said has not spoken with him in several months, but when they last spoke Lakanwal was working for Amazon and Amazon Flex.
Amazon told NBC News that the person named as a suspect wasn’t a full-time employee of Amazon but was an independent contractor for Amazon Flex and has not been active recently.
“I don’t know what happened,” the relative said, breaking down in tears. “I need your help to know why this happened.”
Trump said the “heinous assault” proves that lax migration policies are “the single greatest national security threat facing our nation.”
“No country can tolerate such a risk to our very survival,” he said.
A U.S-based nonprofit that helps resettle Afghans who worked with U.S. forces during the long American military operation in Afghanistan has warned it shouldn’t be used to undermine all Afghans.
AfghanEvac, which works with 250 different groups, said in a statement on X: “We reject and condemn anyone who uses, or seeks to use, violence, and we stand with every American who is horrified and saddened by this crime.
The group then added: “This individual’s isolated and and violent act shouldn’t be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community.”
The suspect, who was also shot, has been identified by four senior law enforcement sources as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national. A family member has told NBC News that he served alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
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