Two National Guard members were shot in broad daylight on Wednesday — allegedly by an Afghan national who once assisted U.S. forces — in what officials described as a “targeted” attack just blocks from the White House.
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died of her wounds, President Donald Trump announced Thursday. Andrew Wolfe, 24, is in critical condition, authorities said, and is "fighting for his life," according to Trump.
They were shot in the head, according to a U.S. official and a senior official directly briefed on the investigation.
The suspect was also shot and taken to a hospital. He has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, four senior law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation said.
The gunman, armed with a revolver, opened fire “without provocation,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Thursday.
“One guardsman is struck, goes down, and then the shooter leans over and strikes the guardsman again,” Pirro said. “Another guardsman is struck several times.”
National Guard members have been based in Washington since August following President Donald Trump’s highly contested directive to curb crime in the nation's capital.
The shooting
The shooting happened at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday near the Farragut Square Metro station in the area of 17th and I streets NW, just a few minutes’ walk from the White House.
At the time, National Guard members were on “high visibility patrols,” said Jeff Carroll, executive assistant chief of the Metropolitan Police Department.
The two National Guard members were “ambushed” by a person who “came around the corner, raised his arm with a firearm and discharged at the National Guard members,” Carroll said at a news conference.
The suspect was shot “during the interaction,” Carroll said, though it’s not clear who shot him, and was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Other National Guard members were in the area and intervened by holding down the suspect after he was shot until he was taken into custody.
Officials said there were no other suspects.
Mayor Muriel Bowser called the shooting “targeted,” saying the suspect who was taken into custody “appeared to target these guardsmen.”
What we know about the victims
The two National Guard members were from the West Virginia National Guard.
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey initially posted on X that both died from their injuries, but he later backtracked and clarified that his office had received “conflicting reports” about their conditions.
“We intend to continue monitoring what the charges will be depending upon the well-being of the guardsmen," Pirro said.
“We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree. But make no mistake: If they do not, that will certainly be the charge, murder in the first degree.”
Around 2,100 National Guard troops were serving in Washington as of Wednesday morning, including 181 West Virginia National Guard members, the joint task force operating in the city said.
What we know about the suspect
Lakanwal, the man law enforcement sources identified as the suspect, is 29, the four senior law enforcement sources told NBC News.
He has been initially identified as an Afghan national who used a handgun, according to two senior U.S. law enforcement officials.
A CIA spokesperson said that the alleged shooter “previously worked with the USG (U.S. government), including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar that ended in 2021 following the withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
Lakanwal, who grew up in Khost province, was living in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and five children, a relative of Lakanwal’s said.
The relative said Lakanwal arrived in the U.S. in September 2021 after having served in the Afghan army for 10 years alongside U.S. Special Forces troops.
A source familiar with the case and a separate law enforcement source told NBC News that the suspect was granted asylum this year.
What is the status of the investigation?
FBI Director Kash Patel called the attack “a horrendous act of violence.”
He promised at a news conference Wednesday that the perpetrator “will be brought to justice” and said the matter will be treated as an assault on a federal law enforcement officer.
The FBI will initially investigate the shooting as a possible act of terrorism, two senior U.S. law enforcement officials said.
President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that the shooter was “severely wounded” and will “pay a very steep price.”
