President Donald Trump asked for 500 additional National Guard members to be deployment in Washington, D.C., after two members were shot and critically injured just blocks from the White House Wednesday afternoon, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth said the president asked him for the deployment and he would ask Secretary of the Army Daniel P. Driscoll.
“This will only stiffen our resolve to ensure that we make Washington, D.C., safe and beautiful,” Hegseth said on camera in the Dominican Republic. “The drop in crime has been historic. The increase in safety and security has been historic. But if criminals want to conduct things like this, violence against America’s best, we will never back down.”
An Army spokesperson confirmed the request.
“We have received the request and will rapidly execute,” Col. Dave Butler said.
Two guard members from West Virginia were shot just before 2:30 p.m. next to Farragut Square Park, two blocks north of the White House.
The victims were ambushed, D.C.’s mayor and the Metropolitan Police Department said. A man turned a corner and fired at the guard members, MPD’s Executive Assistant Chief of Specialized Operations Jeffery Carroll said.
National Guard troops remained on the streets of D.C. Wednesday evening.
As a result of the shooting, officials are coupling National Guard members with D.C. police and Metro Transit Police officers, sources told News4.
Timeline of National Guard deployment in DC
Trump issued an executive order in August declaring a crime emergency in Washington. Within a month, more than 2,300 National Guard troops from eight states and the District were patrolling the city under the command of the Secretary of the Army. West Virginia committed hundreds of troops in mid-August.
The Trump administration deputized the guard troops to serve as special U.S. Marshal Service deputies after Trump’s emergency order over D.C. federalizing its police force and launching the surge of law enforcement in the city.
Later in August, guard members were allowed to carry service weapons as they patrolled D.C.
Also in late August, guard members were instructed to pick up trash and work on dozens of “beautification and restoration” projects in D.C., according to the military task force overseeing the troops.
The National Guard troops’ deployment in the city unnerved some residents, who see in them the manifestation of presidential overreach on law enforcement. And while there is deep mistrust over the motives of the overall deployment, others view the National Guard in D.C., particularly the focus on community improvement efforts, with a measure of approval.
Last week, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to end its deployment of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital, saying it illegally intrudes on local officials’ authority over policing the District. However, the judge put her order on hold for 21 days to allow for an appeal.
As of Tuesday, there were 2,188 Guard members deployed in D.C., including 180 from West Virginia, according to Joint Task Force statistics.
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