Alleged killer in National Guard shooting faces murder charge
WASHINGTON – An Afghan national who police say gunned down two National Guard members near the White House this week now faces a first-degree murder charge, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said Nov. 28.
The announcement comes as President Donald Trump threatens to curb immigration and refugee settlements from "third world countries."
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, was initially charged with assault and weapons possession. But after one of the victims, U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom , 20, died Nov. 27, Pirro told Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” the charges would be upgraded. The alleged gunman previously had worked with the U.S. military and CIA-backed forces in Afghanistan.
The other soldier wounded in the attack, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was “fighting for his life” and remained hospitalized in critical condition, Trump announced Nov. 27.
More: 'Magnificent person.' National Guard member remembered after DC attack
"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 in a Thanksgiving call with service members.
More: Donald Trump used slur in Thanksgiving post. What did it say?
Here are the latest updates about the shooting and its aftermath:
Suspect granted asylum this year − without vetting, Trump administration says
The alleged gunman was granted asylum this year under the Trump administration but officials blamed Biden administration-era vetting for allowing the Afghan refugee to enter the country.
More: Timeline and maps show how the DC National Guard shooting unfolded
Lakanwal arrived Sept. 8, 2021, under a resettlement program set up by former President Joe Biden after the rapid collapse of the Aghan government and takeover by the Taliban.
The program allowed more than 70,000 Afghan nationals into the country under a two-year parole to obtain more permanent status, according to a congressional report. FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said the administration failed to conduct adequate background checks.
More: Trump ordered a green card review after DC shooting. What it means.
"This animal would've never been here if not for Joe Biden's dangerous policies which allowed countless unvetted criminals to invade our country and harm the American people," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said.
Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on April 23, according to a document Reuters reviewed. He had no known criminal history.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement that Lakanwal had worked with CIA-backed local units in 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," Ratcliffe said. "This individual − and so many others − should have never been allowed to come here."
--Bart Jansen
Who is Andrew Wolfe, the wounded Guard member?
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe graduated in 2019 from Musselman High School in Inwood, West Virginia, where Principal Alicia Riggleman said he was an “active, engaged and high-achieving student.”
"Our thoughts are with Sergeant Wolfe, his family, and others who recover from their recent injuries sustained in the line of duty,” Riggleman said in a statement. “The Musselman High School community stands proud of their commitment to service and wishes them strength and healing.”
The school asked members of its community to keep West Virginia Guard members in their thoughts.
"We also keep the other Guardsmen in our hearts as proud West Virginians,” the school statement said. “In moments like this, we stand together with them and with one another as one West Virginia family."
-- Bart Jansen
Suspect worked with US military, CIA-backed forces in Afghanistan
Lakanwal entered the United States through a program designed to allow Afghans who had assisted the U.S. military and their families and who were potential targets of retribution by the Taliban to enter the country after the United States pulled out.
The suspect worked with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.
"I also spoke to Director of the CIA Director John Ratcliffe last night and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ,” Patel said at a Nov. 27 news conference. “There is confirmation now that the subject had a relationship in Afghanistan with partner forces."
Ratcliffe told the New York Times that he was part of a CIA-backed Afghan "partner force" in the southern province of Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold during the two-decade war.
Patel said the FBI would investigate the DC shooting as “an act of terrorism.”
“As we speak, our teams continue to work around the clock following every lead and turning over every stone,” Patel said.
Shooting investigated as possible terrorism
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal , was shot moments after the attack near the Farragut West Metro station and was hospitalized in serious condition. The motive behind the deadly shooting is currently unknown.
Lakanwal allegedly drove across the country from his home in Bellingham, Washington, where he lived with his wife and five children, Pirro said at a news conference Nov. 27.
Lakanwal is being investigated as a possible terrorism suspect, according to a news release from the Department of Homeland Security .
The suspect was shot moments after the attack and was hospitalized. He was described as a "lone gunman" by Jeffery Carroll, executive assistant chief of the Metropolitan Police Department. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser called the attack a "targeted shooting."
Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 as part of a Biden-era asylum program called Operation Allies Welcome. Trump officials have used the attack to blame the Biden administration for immigration vetting failures.
Following the shooting, the Trump administration began ordering widespread reviews of immigration policies , including the suspension of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals and a reexamination of green card holders from 19 countries that were considered "high-risk."
What type of gun was used in the shooting?
The weapon used to shoot the two Guard members a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver, Pirro said Nov. 27.
The handgun, which was introduced in 1935 after Prohibition, is a six-shooter revolver that fires rounds at a high velocity. The gun became popular with law enforcement officers as they battled organized crime for its stopping power and ability to penetrate vehicles.But the gun has more limited ammunition compared to semi-automatic pistols that can carry 10 to 17 founds or more.
Trump decries illegal immigration, 'refugee burden'
In a pair of blistering Truth Social posts from late Thursday night, Trump railed against illegal immigration and what he called the "refugee burden," which he said was "the leading cause of social dysfunction in America."
Singling out the large Somali community in Minnesota , he said "hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia are completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota."
Trump lashed out at Minnesota politicians including Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), calling Walz "retarded" and saying that Omar "probably came into the U.S.A. illegally."
He added that "I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover." In the Truth Social post, he said he hopes to achieve "a major reduction in illegal and disruptive populations, including those admitted through an unauthorized and illegal Autopen approval process. Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation."
Doug Rand, a former senior adviser at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under Biden, told Reuters: "I think they're just going to potentially accelerate their plans, the plans they've had all along the way, which are not making us safer."
Victim remembered as a 'magnificent' person
Beckstrom, from Summersville, West Virginia, 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. She was among the National Guard members deployed to the district in August as part of Trump's response to crime.
Trump on Thursday described Beckstrom as a "highly respected, young, magnificent person." Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, wrote on X that Beckstrom had volunteered to serve in D.C. on Thanksgiving for "people she never met and gave the ultimate sacrifice."
Beckstrom’s high school released a statement on social media , saying the school was "shocked and saddened" to hear of the shooting in D.C.
"Sarah, a member of the Class of 2023, has always demonstrated the strength, character, and commitment that make our school and community proud," Webster County High School said. Read more here .
DC shooting: Trump sent National Guard to DC to fight crime. Then two were shot.
Trump orders review of green card holders from countries of 'concern'
Trump directed the review of green cards issued from "every country of concern," according to Joseph Edlow, the head of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Edlow announced on Nov. 27 that he has ordered a "full-scale, rigorous reexamination" of every green card holder from 19 countries. The countries include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
The new policy went into immediate effect and applies to immigration requests pending or filed on or after Nov. 27, according to the USCIS. The guidance comes after the Trump administration "halted refugee resettlement from Afghanistan and the entry of Afghan nationals in its first year of office," the agency said in a news release.
Afghanistan was one of the nations included in Trump’s travel ban in June , in which he blocked the entry of foreign nationals from 12 nations and partially restricted entry from seven other countries into the United States.
W.V. senator supports seeking death penalty against shooter
On Friday, U.S. Senator Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia said she supported pursuing the death penalty in the case against Lakanwal.
“We should be pressing the ultimate charges, the death penalty, for someone who has attacked our National Guard on the streets of Washington, D.C.,” Capito said in an interview with Fox News ' Fox & Friends.
The victims of the Nov. 26 shooting were both members of the West Virginia National Guard and were among thousands of National Guardsmen deployed to the nation’s capital as part of what the president has said are necessary efforts to combat urban crime in “troubled” Democrat-led U.S. cities.
On Nov. 27, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said if the two guard members did not survive, the Justice Department would “do everything in our power to seek the death penalty” against Lakanwal, an Afghan national from Washington State.
“I think the American people will definitely support these charges,” Capito said. “It’s a horrific attack, a terrorist attack on our peacekeepers. Sarah (Beckstrom) and Andrew (Wolfe) were there to keep peace in our capital city, to be part of the presence there so it could be safer, and they were taken down by the very thing they were trying to prevent.”
Contributing: Taylor Ardrey, USA TODAY; Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Murder charge for alleged National Guard gunman
