National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom dies after DC shooting
WASHINGTON, DC — One of the two National Guard members shot in what authorities described as a "targeted" ambush near the White House has died, President Donald Trump announced on Thursday.
" Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, one of the guardsmen that 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 in a Thanksgiving call to service members from Palm Beach, Florida.
"She's just passed away. She's no longer with us," Trump continued. "She's looking down at us right now. Her parents are with her."
Andrew Wolfe, the other National Guard member who was shot near the White House, remained in critical condition, is "fighting for his life" and was in "very bad shape," according to the president.
The troops were part of a "high-visibility patrol,” about two blocks from the White House, when the shooting occurred, authorities said. The suspect was identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national from Washington state.
The suspect’s motive has not been determined. He was shot by a nearby National Guard member and remained hospitalized in "serious condition" as of Thursday," according to authorities and Trump.
Beckstrom, 20, was a member of the West Virginia National Guard. She and Wolfe, 24, were attacked outside a Metro station in the heart of the nation's capital, law enforcement authorities have said.
National Guard shooting: What we know about the servicemembers injured in DC attack
Trump claims DC was 'safest place imaginable' before shooting
During Thursday's call with service members, Trump claimed that the capital had "no incidents for many months" amid the National Guard's deployment in the city.
"I want to express the anguish and the horror of our entire nation at the terrorist attack yesterday in our nation's capital, in which a savage monster gunned down two service members in the West Virginia National Guard who were deployed as part of the DC Task Force," Trump said.
"Until yesterday ... It was the safest place imaginable," he continued. "And this is a different kind of crime. This is a really bad crime."
Following the shooting, Trump 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.
Trump criticizes Biden administration's refugee program
Trump called the suspect a “monster” and criticized former President Joe Biden , saying the suspect was flown to the U.S. under the Biden administration. He held up a photo of people cramming onto a plane in Afghanistan during the military pullout .
"It was total bedlam," Trump said. "People crammed onto the plane ... This is what we had under the Biden administration."
The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that the suspect worked with a CIA-backed military unit in Kandahar. Lakanwal came to the United States in September 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem previously confirmed that the suspect arrived in the United States under a Biden-era program that allowed Afghan nationals fleeing the Taliban to enter the country. At the time, there was immense pressure from lawmakers in both parties to act swiftly due to fear that Afghans who served alongside American troops would be killed.
Trump says administration looking into deporting the suspect's family
After the call with service members on Thursday, Trump told reporters that his administration is looking into whether to deport the suspect's family. Lakanwal was living in Bellingham, Washington, with a wife and five children.
"We’re looking at the whole situation with family," Trump said.
When asked if Lakanwal was granted asylum under the Trump administration, the president said that when "it comes to asylum, when they're flown in, it's very hard to get them out."
FBI searches multiple properties in shooting investigation
The FBI searched multiple properties on Thursday in what officials said was a terrorism investigation. They raided a home in Washington state linked to the suspect.
Agents seized numerous electronic devices from the suspect's residence, including cellphones, laptops, and iPads, and interviewed his relatives, according to Patel.
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.
Report: Suspect belonged to CIA-backed group known as 'Zero Units'
The 29-year-old Afghan national suspected of shooting at National Guard members worked with a paramilitary outfit known as “Zero Unit,” the New York Times reported . Lakanwal had mental health issues and was upset about the casualties the unit caused, a childhood friend identified only as Muhammad, told the publication.
Patel, speaking at a news conference after the shooting blocks from the White House, confirmed Lakanwal “had a relationship in Afghanistan with partner forces” during the 20-year war. He was among the thousands who escaped the foreign country as the Taliban took back control after the U.S. withdrawal in August 2021.
Various media outlets have also reported that the shooter worked "with CIA-backed military units" during the war.
The so-called "Zero Units" have faced intense scrutiny for years over allegedly violating international humanitarian rules such as extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, indiscriminate airstrikes, and attacks on medical facilities, according to a 2019 Human Rights Watch report .
Among the documented cases was one in October 2018 when an Afghan paramilitary force unit raided a home, killing five civilian members of a family, including an older adult woman and a child.
— Phillip Bailey
Trump orders review of green card holders 'from every country of concern'
Trump has ordered the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to reexamine the statuses of green card holders from "every country of concern," the agency’s director, Joseph Edlow, said Thursday.
Edlow wrote on X that, at the direction of the president, he has ordered a "full-scale, rigorous” review of green cards. In a news release Thursday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it has issued new guidance allowing for "negative, country-specific factors to be considered when vetting aliens from 19 high-risk countries."
The 19 countries include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
The agency has already paused all immigration requests from Afghan nationals after the shooting. Most travel and immigration from Afghanistan to the United States were 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.
— Thao Nguyen
Bellingham mayor says city is working with federal authorities
The mayor of Bellingham, Washington, said Thursday that the city is working closely with federal partners and has directed local resources to be ready to support the FBI’s investigation into the shooting. Mayor Kim Lund called the shooting a “heinous, violent attack” and shared her condolences with the victims.
"The terrible actions committed in Washington, D.C. yesterday are the actions of one person, not a community," Lund said in a statement . "They don’t represent Bellingham’s values. They don’t reflect the values of either Washington. They don’t represent what makes our communities great."
— Thao Nguyen
Reports: Shooting suspect granted asylum by Trump administration in April
Lakanwal applied for asylum in 2024 and was granted that status last April under the Trump administration, multiple news outlets are reporting. The Department of Homeland Security said in a news release that Lakanwal entered the country through Operation Allies Welcome on Sept. 8, 2021.
The program was designed to allow Afghans who assisted the U.S. military and their families, who were potential targets of retribution by the Taliban, to enter the country after the United States pulled out. The CIA has confirmed that Lakanwal worked with American forces.
Early reporting on the day of the shooting stated that Lakanwal had overstayed a visa and was in the country illegally. An official told Reuters on Wednesday that he had entered as part of the asylum program but had overstayed his visa and was living in Washington illegally.
On Thursday, CBS , ABC , The Wall Street Journal , and Fox News reported that the Trump administration granted Lakanwal asylum in April, adding that he applied during the Biden administration.
On the day of the shooting, Trump said the U.S. must “re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden.”
"If they can't love our country, we don't want them," Trump said.
Afghan refugee group denounces Trump for pausing immigration
An organization that supports refugees fleeing Afghanistan is condemning the Trump administration for pausing immigration applications in the wake of the shooting.
Arash Azizzada, co-director of Afghans For A Better Tomorrow, a community-led advocacy group, said the U.S. must acknowledge that its "forever wars" are a major reason why so many Afghans seek safety here, and that blaming refugees for the consequences of a single action is unjust.
" President Trump is using this tragedy as a pretext to demonize, criminalize, and target an entire community," Azizzada said in a statement to USA TODAY.
"Exploiting a single incident to cast suspicion on Afghans, people who have already endured decades of displacement and the consequences of America’s forever wars, is both irresponsible and cruel."
Trump has laid down a gauntlet in the shooting’s aftermath, saying it "underscores the single greatest national security threat" to the nation.
No motive has been established for why Lakanwal drove across the country to the nation’s capital and shot the two guard members. But he did work alongside U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan.
— Phillip Bailey
US to review all Biden-era asylum applications
The U.S. will start reviewing all the asylum cases approved during the Biden administration, the Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday.
"Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols," department spokesperson Tricia Mclaughlin said in a statement, according to Reuters.
In the wake of the U.S.'s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the Biden administration was praised by many for offering to resettle around 200,000 Afghan nationals who supported the U.S. military and diplomatic mission in Afghanistan for a period of more than 20 years. The move also drew criticism. The Office of Inspector General released a report in May 2024 that concluded there were "vulnerabilities" in the way applicants for the program were vetted.
Program aiding Afghan refugees under microscope
The ambush of two National Guard members on Wednesday is igniting a new round of criticism towards a Biden-era program that brought the suspected shooter to the country after the United States' 20-year war in Afghanistan .
The suspect in the shooting gained entry into the country through "Operation Allies Welcome," a special visa program originally set up to evacuate vulnerable Afghans, and their families, who had cooperated with U.S. forces during the war as the Taliban took back control during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
There had been previous warnings in Department of Homeland Security reports that outlined how the Biden administration failed to track Afghan evacuees. Many Republican lawmakers had also expressed concern about the lack of transparency and the possible danger to communities.
Now the Trump administration is leveraging those fears to pause all immigration applications from Afghan nationals, arguing the previous administration allowed "unvetted foreigners" into the country. But supporters of the program argue Afghan nationals, who helped the U.S. during the war, have gone through the "most extensive security vetting of any population." Read more here .
Pirro gives fiery defense of Trump's guard deployment
Pirro gave a fiery response to a member of the media who asked about criticisms of 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. "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 Wednesday shooting. The new order will bring the total deployment of National Guard members in the nation’s capital to roughly 2,700 .
Pirro 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.
What we know: Trump's National Guard deployments around the US
Suspect reportedly worked with CIA during war in Afghanistan
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.
What was the US doing in Afghanistan?
The United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of its pursuit of Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, the militant group that carried out the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Then, like now, the Taliban, a hardline Islamist group, ran Afghanistan.
When the Taliban ultimately refused to hand bin Laden over, the U.S. military, with support from Britain and other allies, began a bombing campaign in October 2001 against the Taliban that evolved into a ground operation and a wider "war on terror." The Taliban government fell within months, but al-Qaeda and other aligned militants waged a guerrilla-warfare campaign against U.S. forces and the growing number of international troops sent there for years.
By the time the U.S. fully withdrew its forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, during the Biden administration, tens of thousands of Afghan nationals had worked for the U.S. military as translators, guides, assisting in intelligence-gathering, and other logistical roles.
National Guard shooting victims identified
The two National Guard members who were shot on Wednesday have been identified as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, Pirro announced Thursday.
Beckstrom, an Army Specialist from Summersville, was assigned to the 863rd Military Police Company, 111th Engineer Brigade, and entered service in June 2023, according to a news release from the West Virginia National Guard .
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Wolfe, of Martinsburg, was assigned to the Force Support Squadron, 167 Airlift Wing. He entered service in February 2019, according to the news release. Read more here .
— Taylor Ardrey
Bondi: DOJ would seek death penalty if Guard members do not survive
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.”
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 intent 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 servicemembers, 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.”
Trump administration asks appeals court to allow National Guard deployments to continue in DC
The Trump administration has asked a federal appeals court to halt a judge's ruling that halted the president's deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and called it unlawful. That decision, which came last week, was on hold so the administration could appeal.
The emergency motion was filed on Wednesday, the same day two National Guard members were shot and critically injured near the White House. The motion did not cite the attack as a reason for the administration's request.
On Nov. 20, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops in Washington without approval from its mayor. She paused her ruling until Dec. 11 to give the administration time to appeal.
District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb brought the lawsuit on Sept. 4, which accused Trump of usurping control of the city’s law enforcement and violating a law prohibiting troops from doing domestic police work.
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. “My heart breaks for them, their families, and those impacted by the horrific attack in our Nation’s capital.”
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 on Wednesday, 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.”
Graphics: How the DC National Guard shooting unfolded
How many Afghans were resettled in the US?
Over 190,000 Afghans were resettled in the U.S. under both operations, "Allies Welcome" and "Enduring Welcome," the two immigration programs the U.S. devised to help Afghans who had worked alongside U.S. diplomats and military personnel in Afghanistan, according to the State Department.
As part of that application process, applicants and their families underwent multiple security screenings by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement before they left Afghanistan. They were also vetted when they transited to the U.S. via other countries, such as the United Arab Emirates.
Most Afghans were given the right to enter, work, and remain in the U.S. for two years. They were not automatically given permanent residence.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: National Guard DC shooting: Sarah Beckstrom dies after violent attack
