One of the two West Virginia National Guard members shot near the White House on Wednesday has died, President Trump said during a Thanksgiving Day call with US service members. The president described the suspect — an Afghan national who once worked with a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan — as a “savage monster.”
The soldier who died was identified as Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, Trump said. The second soldier, Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition and is “fighting for his life.”
During his remarks, Trump held up a printed photograph of Afghan evacuees aboard a military plane during the 2021 withdrawal from Kabul. He suggested the suspect may have struggled with mental instability after the war. “He went cuckoo,” Trump said. “It happens too often with these people.”
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, was taken into custody shortly after what authorities described as an ambush-style attack near Farragut Square, just blocks from the White House. The FBI and local authorities said he opened fire with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver.
The Associated Press quoting two sources reported that Lakanwal had served in a CIA-backed Afghan Army unit in Kandahar. The group AfghanEvac, which resettles Afghans who assisted the United States, also confirmed he had previously worked with US forces.
Lakanwal entered the United States in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, the Biden administration initiative that evacuated tens of thousands of Afghans after the US withdrawal. He later applied for asylum, which was approved under the Trump administration, AfghanEvac said.
He had been living in Bellingham, Wash., with his wife and five children, according to a former landlord.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said investigators had not yet determined a motive. As of Thursday morning, Lakanwal faced charges of assault with intent to kill and weapons offenses; prosecutors said charges would be upgraded after Spc. Beckstrom’s death.
Ms. Pirro described the shooting as an “ambush-style” attack and said the case remained politically and legally sensitive at a time when the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops in US cities is facing federal court challenges.
In his Thanksgiving remarks, Trump again criticized the Afghan evacuation, claiming the vetting of evacuees was inadequate. “We have no greater national security priority than ensuring full control over the people who enter and remain in our country,” he said. “For the most part, we don’t want them.”
He also called for a reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who entered under the Biden administration.
Joseph Edlow, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, later said the agency would intensify screening for individuals from 19 “high-risk” countries, though he did not identify them. Earlier this year, the administration banned or restricted travel from several countries on national security grounds.
Lakanwal’s service in a CIA-supported unit places him among the thousands of Afghans who worked alongside American intelligence and military personnel during the two-decade conflict. These so‑called Zero Units, staffed by Afghans and supported by US paramilitary officers, played a significant role in counterterrorism operations and in securing Kabul’s airport during the chaotic withdrawal.
The CIA director, John Ratcliffe, said in a statement that Lakanwal’s relationship with US agencies “ended shortly after the chaotic evacuation.”
