Trump says one of the National Guard members shot in Washington has died
National Guard patrol on the National Mall near the US Capitol in Washington (Rahmat Gul/AP)
President Donald Trump said one of the two West Virginia National Guard members shot by an Afghan national near the White House had died, calling the gunman who had worked with the CIA in his native country a “savage monster”.
As part of his Thanksgiving call to US troops, Mr Trump said that he had just learned that Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, had died, while Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24, was “fighting for his life”.
“She’s just passed away,” Mr Trump said. “She’s no longer with us. She’s looking down at us right now. Her parents are with her.”
The president called Ms Beckstrom an “incredible person, outstanding in every single way”.
The president used the announcement to say the shooting was a “terrorist attack” as he criticised the Biden administration for enabling Afghans who worked with US forces during the Afghanistan War to enter the US. The president has deployed National Guard members in part to assist in his administration’s mass deportation efforts.
Mr Trump suggested that the gunman 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 suspect charged with the shooting is Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who worked in a special CIA-backed Afghan army unit before emigrating from Afghanistan, according to sources who spoke to the Associated Press, and #AfghanEvac, a group which helps resettle Afghans who assisted the US during the two-decade war.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Webster Springs, where Ms Beckstrom is from, will hold three prayer vigils on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, according to a Facebook post from the Webster County Veterans Auxiliary.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, declined to provide a motive for Wednesday afternoon’s brazen act of violence which occurred just blocks from the White House.
The presence of troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has become a political flashpoint.
She said the suspect 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.
Ms Pirro said that “it’s too soon to say” what the suspect’s motives were.
Mr Trump issued an emergency order in August that federalised the local police force and sent in National Guard troops. The order expired a month later, but the troops have remained in the city, where nearly 2,200 troops are currently assigned, according to the government’s latest update.
The guard members have patrolled neighbourhoods, train stations and other locations, participated in highway checkpoints and been assigned to pick up rubbish and guard sports events.
The Trump administration quickly ordered 500 more National Guard members to Washington following Wednesday’s shooting.
CIA director John Ratcliffe said in a statement Lakanwal’s relationship with the US government “ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation” of US service members from Afghanistan.
Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration programme which evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the US withdrawal from the country, officials said.
He applied for asylum during the Biden administration, but his asylum was approved under the Trump administration, #AfghanEvac said in a statement.
Lakanwal has been living in Bellingham, Washington, about 79 miles north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, said his former landlord Kristina Widman.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
