National Guard Shooting In DC: What We Know

WASHINGTON, DC — The man accused of a targeted shooting on Wednesday that killed a National Guard member and left another in critical condition worked with CIA-backed units in Afghanistan, according to reports.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro identified the injured National Guard members as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, CNN reported. President Donald Trump confirmed on Thursday that Beckstrom had died. Beckstrom had joined the Guard in June 2023 and Wolfe in 2019, West Virginia Metro News reported.

Beckstrom had "a mortal wound," her father told the New York Times on Thursday. "It's not going to be a recovery."

Wolfe's father asked for prayers for his son, the Times' report said.

In a statement, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said he and Adjutant Gen. Jim Seward visited the National Guard members “who are in critical condition,” CNN reported.

Morrisey also said he spoke with Trump last night.

The accused shooter has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national who came to the United States under the Operation Allies Welcome program in 2021 that gave some Afghans who had worked for the U.S. government entry visas, ABC reported. Pirro said he drove across the country from Washington state in what authorities have said was a targeted attack.

He has been charged with several counts, including three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, Pirro said, according to the New York Times.

Lakanwal had worked with military units in Afghanistan that were supported by the Central Intelligence Agency, which worked alongside US special forces in Afghanistan, CIA director John Ratcliffe confirmed Wednesday evening, The Guardian reported.

The Times report said he had worked for several U.S. government agencies in Afghanistan, including a CIA-backed unit in the southern province of Kandahar, a stronghold of the Taliban.

Lakanwal had applied for asylum in 2024 and it was granted in April under the Trump administration, the Daily Beast reported.

Trump called the shooting an act of terror and said the US "must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden," the BBC reported.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials said on a post on X that all processing of immigration requests for Afghan nationals has been halted indefinitely in the wake of the shooting.

In another post to X, CIS Director Joseph Edlow said that at the president's request, he has "directed a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern."

"The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies," he wrote. "American safety is non negotiable."

At the direction of @POTUS, I have directed a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.
— USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow (@USCISJoe) November" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/USCISJoe/s... 27, 2025

Pirro said Lakanwal lived in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and five children and had driven across the country to commit the shooting, The Washington Post reported.

He was granted asylum in April, The New York Times reported, sourcing three people with knowledge of his case who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

CNN reported that a US official told them that Lakanwal was “clean on all checks” before working with the CIA and then again before coming to the US.

The official told the outlet that the US government was doing continuous, annual vetting of people since the arrival of the Afghans in the US, especially in the wake of the terror plot which involved an Afghan evacuee before the election last year in Oklahoma.

Law enforcement in the city of Bellingham, Wash., are preparing to assist with the F.B.I.’s investigation, Mayor Kim Lund told The New York Times. “The terrible actions committed in Washington, D.C., yesterday are the actions of one person, not a community,” she said in a statement. “They don’t represent Bellingham’s values. They don’t reflect the values of either Washington.”

Lakanwal used a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver and shot one National Guard member, then the second one "several times," Pirro said, according to the Post. Other Guard members helped subdue Lakanwal, who was shot and also is hospitalized under heavy guard, she said. There were no other injuries.

Beckstrom is from Summersville and was assigned to the 863rd Military Police Company, 111th Engineer Brigade, West Virginia Army National Guard, West Virginia Metro News reported, quoting the West Virginia National Guard. Wolfe is from Martinsburg and was assigned to the Force Support Squadron, 167th Airlift Wing, West Virginia Air National Guard, the report said.

Pirro said the shooting happened about 2:15 p.m. at 17th and I Street Northwest, near Farragut Square.

Jeffery Carroll, an executive assistant chief at the Metropolitan Police Department, said Lakanwal "came around the corner" and "immediately started firing" at the troops, according to video reviewed by law enforcement.

Other National Guard members heard the gunfire and immediately responded and were able to "hold down the suspect after he had been shot."

The shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism, FBI Director Kash Patel said, according to multiple outlets, and authorities have questioned people both in Washington State and in San Diego.

Authorities did not offer a motive on Thursday morning.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department plans to file terrorism charges against Lakanwal, and if either of the National Guard members dies of their injuries, will seek the death penalty, the Post reported.