One of the two National Guard members shot by Afghan national has died, Trump says

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, GARY FIELDS, ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE and BEN FINLEY

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) — President Donald Trump said that one of the two West Virginia National Guard members shot by an Afghan national near the White House had died, calling the shooter who had worked with the CIA in his native country a “savage monster.”

As part of his Thanksgiving call to U.S. troops, Trump said that he had just learned that Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, had died, while Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was “fighting for his life.”

“She’s just passed away,” Trump said. “She’s no longer with us. She’s looking down at us right now. Her parents are with her.”

The president called Beckstrom an “incredible person, outstanding in every single way.”

Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remained hospitalized in critical condition.

Trump used the announcement to say the shooting was a “terrorist attack” as he criticized the Biden administration for enabling Afghans who worked with U.S. forces during the Afghanistan War to enter the U.S. The president has deployed National Guard members in part to assist in his administration’s mass deportation efforts.

Trump suggested that the shooter was mentally unstable after the war and departure from Afghanistan.

“He went cuckoo. I mean, he went nuts,” the president said. “It happens too often with these people.”

The shooter worked with U.S. forces in Afghanistan

The suspect charged with the shooting is Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29. The suspect had worked in a special CIA-backed Afghan Army unit before emigrating from Afghanistan, according to two sources who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, and #AfghanEvac, a group that helps resettle Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the two-decade war.

Lakanwal, an Afghan national who worked with the CIA in his native country and immigrated to the U.S. in 2021, drove from Washington state to shoot the two West Virginia National Guard members deployed in Washington, D.C., just blocks from the White House, and might also have ties to San Diego, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, declined to provide a motive for Wednesday afternoon’s brazen act of violence, which comes as the presence of troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has become a political flashpoint.

Pirro said Lakanwal, launched an “ambush-style” attack with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver. The suspect currently faces charges of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Pirro said that “it’s too soon to say” what the suspect’s motives were but that the charges could be upgraded.

According to a CBS News report, FBI Director Kash Patel said “a search warrant had been executed at the suspect’s last known address in Washington state. Based on what was found at the address, law enforcement was able to find people associated with him in San Diego.”

Patel said numerous electronic devices were seized and were being analyzed. “Interviews were conducted and are going to be continue to be conducted, and we will go anywhere in the country or the world where the evidence leads us,” he said.

San Diego-based AfghanEvac, which works to resettle Afghan refugees who helped the U.S. government during the war, said the refugees undergo some of the most extensive security vetting of any population in the U.S.

“His bad behavior does not reflect on the entire Afghan community,” AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver told the Union-Tribune on Thursday. He added that AfghanEvac has no connection to the suspect and he is unaware of any San Diego ties. “The CIA brought him here,” VanDiver said.

The rare shooting of National Guard members on American soil, on the eve of Thanksgiving, comes amid court fights and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration’s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem.

The Trump administration quickly ordered 500 more National Guard members to Washington.

The suspect who was in custody also was shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

Suspect worked with CIA during Afghanistan War

A resident of the eastern Afghan province of Khost who identified himself as Lakanwal’s cousin said Lakanwal was originally from the province and that he and his brother had worked in a special Afghan Army unit known as Zero Units in the southern province of Kandahar. A former official from the unit, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said Lakanwal was a team leader and his brother was a platoon leader.

The cousin spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. He said he had last spoken to Lakanwal about six months ago. He said both brothers had moved to the United States in 2021. He said Lakanwal had started out working as a security guard for the unit in 2012, and was later promoted to become a team leader and a GPS specialist.

Zero Units were paramilitary units manned by Afghans but backed by the CIA and also served in front-line fighting with CIA paramilitary officers. Activists had attributed abuses to the units. They played a key role in the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country, providing security around Kabul International Airport as the Americans and others fell back during the Taliban offensive that seized the country.

A former official of 03 Unit, one of the Zero Units, said Lakanwal and his brother had both served in 03, which was stationed in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, in the year before the Taliban takeover. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said Lakanwal was a team leader and his brother was a platoon leader.

Lakanwal, 29, entered the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country, officials said. Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration, but his asylum was approved under the Trump administration, #AfghanEvac said in a statement.

The initiative brought roughly 76,000 people to the U.S., many of whom had worked alongside U.S. troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators. It has since faced intense scrutiny from Trump and his allies, congressional Republicans and some government watchdogs over allegations of gaps in the vetting process and the speed of admissions, even as advocates say there was extensive vetting and the program offered a lifeline to people at risk of Taliban reprisals.

Lakanwal has been living in Bellingham, Washington, about 79 miles (127 kilometers) north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, said his former landlord, Kristina Widman.

Prior to his 2021 arrival in the United States, the suspect worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA, “as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” John Ratcliffe, the spy agency’s director, said in a statement. He did not specify what work Lakanwal did, but said the relationship “ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation” of U.S. servicemembers from Afghanistan.

Kandahar in southern Afghanistan is in the Taliban heartland of the country. It saw fierce fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 following the al-Qaida attacks on Sept. 11. The CIA relied on Afghan staff for translation, administrative and front-line fighting with their own paramilitary officers in the war.

Wednesday night, in a video message released on social media, President Donald Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who entered under the Biden administration.

“If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” he said, adding that the shooting was “a crime against our entire nation.”

Attack being investigated as terrorist act

Patel said the shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism. Agents have served a series of search warrants, with Patel calling it a “coast-to-coast investigation.”

Pirro said: “We have been in constant contact with their families and have provided them with every resource needed during this difficult time.”

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser interpreted the shooting as a direct assault on America itself, rather than specifically on Trump’s policies.

“Somebody drove across the country and came to Washington, D.C., to attack America,” Bowser said. “That person will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

U-T reporter Kelly Davis contributed to this report.