The Afghan national accused of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members members in Washington worked with several U.S. government agencies in Afghanistan, including the CIA, according to published report
.m A member of the Louisiana National Guard patrols at the Lincoln Memorial on Nov. 27, one day after two National Guard members were shot
The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that Rahmanullah Lakanwal worked with a CIA-backed military unit in Kandahar.
Lakanwal, 29, came to the United States in September 2021 after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have confirmed that he arrived in the United States under a Biden-era program that allowed Afghan nationals fleeing the Taliban to enter the country.
Lakanwal is accused of shooting the two guard members on Wednesday, Nov. 26, not far from the White House in what federal authorities described as a “targeted” attack. A motive for the shooting remains unclear.
The National Guard members were part of a “high-visibility patrol” near the White House when the suspect came around the corner and opened fire, according to Metropolitan Police Assistant Chief Jeff Carroll. After a “back-and-forth exchange,” Carroll said other troops subdued and detained the shooter.
The two wounded Guard members were in critical condition at local hospitals, FBI Director Kash Patel said.
Trump has ordered 500 additional National Guard troops to be deployed to Washington. Thousands of troops have already been deployed in the capital as part of the president’s immigration and crime crackdown targeting Democratic-led cities.
Pirro gives fiery defense of Trump’s guard deployment
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, gave a fiery response to a member of the media who asked about criticisms of President Donald Trump’s National Guard deployment.
“I don’t even want to talk about whether they should have been there,” Pirro said at a news conference on Thursday, Nov. 27. “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 that violence was quelled. I’m not even going to go there.”
Trump deployed the National Guard to Washington in August to deter what he described as “violent, menacing street crime.” He ordered 500 more troops to the city after the Nov. 26 shooting of two National Guard members. The new order will bring the total deployment of National Guard members in the nation’s capital to roughly 2,700.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, stressed that the investigation into the shooting suspect is fluid and ongoing.
“It’s too soon to say what the motive is, but there are definitely areas that we are looking into, but not ready to say,” Pirro said at a news conference on Thursday morning, Nov. 27.
Suspect reportedly worked with CIA during war in Afghanistan
FBI Director Kash Patel said at a news conference that he spoke to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe as part of what he described as an international terrorism investigation.
“There is confirmation now that the subject had a relationship in Afghanistan with partner forces. We are fully investigating that aspect of his background, as well, to include any known associates that are either overseas or here in the United States of America,” Patel said.
The suspect worked “with CIA-backed military units” during the war in Afghanistan, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
National Guard shooting victims identified as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24
The two National Guard members who were shot during an attack on Wednesday near the White House have been identified as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, according to Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
Pirro made the announcement during a morning news conference on Thursday. They have undergone surgery, she said, and remain in critical condition.
DOJ would seek death penalty if servicemembers do not survive, AG Pam Bondi says
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday morning on Fox News that Beckstrom volunteered to work over the holiday so that others could spend Thanksgiving with their families.
“Yet now, their families are in hospital rooms with them, while they are fighting for their lives,” she said.
Bondi said that if the two guard members did not survive, the Justice Department would “do everything in our power to seek the death penalty” against the suspect, who she said should not have been allowed into the country.
The charges that are brought will depend on what happens to the servicemembers, who are hospitalized, she said. “But worst case scenario, minimum life in prison with terrorism charges.”
Investigators search suspect’s home in Washington state
FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI has executed multiple search warrants around the country, including the suspect’s last known residence in Washington state.
All the individuals at the residence have been interviewed and some are ongoing, he said. “We will not stop until we interview anyone and everyone associated with the subject, the house and every piece of his life.”
Patel said that the FBI was also conducting interviews related to the investigation in San Diego.
“This is a coast to coast investigation,” Patel said.
DC shooting suspect used a revolver in attack, officials say
Pirro called it a “brazen and targeted attack” carried out by a “lone gunman” who ambushed them without provocation. The gunman used a 357 Smith and Wesson revolver, Pirro said.
Pirro said the suspect will be charged with three counts of assault, with attempt to kill while armed. He will also be charged with possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. He faces 15 years under the assault with the intent to kill, she said.
The U.S. attorney said the government could bring additional charges, depending on the well-being of the guardsman, who were in critical condition as of this morning.
“We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree,” she said. “But make no mistake, if they do not, that will certainly be the charge.”
Identity of DC shooting suspect confirmed as Rahmanullah Lakanwal
The shooting is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism.
In a news release, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national from Washington State, is the suspect taken into custody.
Army Secretary visits shooting victims in hospital
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said he visited the two West Virginia National Guard members who remain hospitalized after they were shot in what authorities said was a targeted attack.
“I visited our injured National Guardsmen in the hospital today,” Driscoll wrote in a post on X on Wednesday, Nov. 26. “My heart breaks for them, their families, and those impacted by the horrific attack in our Nation’s capital.”
Neither victim has been identified. Driscroll did not provide any information on their condition.
“Every one of our National Guardsmen made a courageous decision to serve their community and their nation,” he wrote. “They serve selflessly to safeguard our way of life. Please keep our Guardsmen in your prayers.”
Trump declares the shooting as ‘act of terror’
In a speech from Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the Thanksgiving holiday, Trump said Nov. 26 the Department of Homeland Security “is confident” the suspect being held in connection with the shooting entered the United States from Afghanistan. He declared the shooting a “heinous assault” and an “act of terror.”
The president repeatedly used anti-immigrant rhetoric and reiterated that the suspect in the shooting will pay the “steepest possible price.” He called Afghanistan “a hell-hole on Earth” and said the suspect was “flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021.”
Trump claimed that the Biden administration let in “20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners” and said the U.S. must “re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden.”
Following his speech, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that processing of immigration requests for Afghan nationals “is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”
Reuters, citing an anonymous official, reported that investigators identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national from Washington state.
Lakanwal entered the U.S. on a special visa program for Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the Afghanistan war and were vulnerable to reprisals from the ruling Taliban after the U.S. withdrawal, the official told Reuters. But Lakanwal overstayed his visa and is in the country illegally, the official said.
In a post on X, Noem said the suspect came to the U.S. from Afghanistan in September 2021 under a Biden administration program called Operation Allies Welcome.
US pauses immigration applications from Afghan nationals
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced after the shooting that it was pausing all immigration applications from Afghan nationals.
“Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols,” the agency said in a post on X on Nov. 26.
Most travel and immigration from Afghanistan to the United States was already suspended. Afghanistan was one of the nations included in Trump’s travel ban last June. The president cited visa overstays and a lack of appropriate screening and vetting measures as the reason.
Afghan nationals who entered the country on Special Immigrant Visas after helping the U.S. military or acting as a translator were among a handful of exceptions.
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