The suspect within the capturing of two Nationwide Guard members in Washington, D.C., has been recognized as 29-year-old Afghan citizen Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
Lakanwal arrived within the U.S. in 2021 as a part of the evacuation of Afghan allies who labored with U.S. troops through the 20-year battle in opposition to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
He utilized for asylum in 2024, and it was granted in 2025, in keeping with CBS Information. He then utilized for a inexperienced card, and his software was pending.
Whereas in Afghanistan, Lakanwal labored alongside the CIA “as a member of a accomplice power in Kandahar,” in keeping with the company’s director, John Ratcliffe. Kandahar was a Taliban stronghold that noticed among the fiercest combating of the battle.
After the battle, Lakanwal was one in every of about 800 Afghan refugees who have been resettled in Washington State with the monetary assist of the federal authorities. He lived along with his spouse and 5 kids.
“It is a fluid investigation,” Jeanine Pirro, U.S. lawyer for the District of Columbia, stated Thursday. “Individuals are working across the clock. It’s too quickly to say what the motive is, however there are positively areas that we’re trying into.”
Andrew Leyden/Getty Photos
Brigadier Common Leland Blanchard of the Nationwide Guard speaks to the press on Thursday as FBI Director Kash Patel (entrance, proper) and US lawyer for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro (entrance, left), look on throughout a press convention in regards to the capturing of two West Virginia Nationwide Guard troopers. (Photograph by Andrew Leyden/Getty Photos)
Lakanwal drove from Bellingham, about 20 miles south of the Canadian border, to Washington, D.C., to hold out the assault, authorities stated.
On Wednesday, Lakanwal darted from round a nook only a few blocks from the White Home and ambushed two Nationwide Guard members, firing from a strong .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver, officers stated. He critically wounded Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Workers Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, earlier than being shot by one other Guard member and arrested.
Beckstrom and Wolfe are each from West Virginia, and the state’s governor initially stated Wednesday that the 2 had died within the capturing, earlier than strolling again these feedback. The 2 troopers have been listed Thursday in essential situation.
Greater than 2,000 Nationwide Guard troops have been already within the nation’s capital following orders from President Trump, and Trump ordered 500 extra troops into the town following Wednesday’s assault. Trump was in Florida, not the White Home, throughout Wednesday’s shock capturing.
With Information Wire Providers
