Sarah Beckstrom, the West Virginia National Guard member who died of her injuries after a shooting near the White House this week, took a keen interest in criminal justice and dreamed of one day becoming an FBI agent, according to a former boyfriend.
Beckstrom, 20, believed her service with the military police would “get her foot in the door for a career in the FBI and help her in the long run,” according to the ex-boyfriend, Adam Carr, who said the two remained on good terms after breaking up last month following six years together.
President Donald Trump announced Beckstrom’s death during a Thanksgiving Day phone call with U.S. troops. He described her as a “highly respected, young, magnificent person” and added: “She’s looking down at us right now.”
The other National Guard member wounded in Wednesday’s shooting has been identified as U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. Trump said Wolfe was in “very bad shape” and “fighting for his life.”
The suspected gunman, an Afghan national identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, faces a first-degree murder charge, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced Friday. Officials previously said he faced three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and one count of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Lakanwal worked with U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan, according to the CIA.
Carr, 20, who started dating Beckstrom in high school, remembered her as “one of the most forgiving people” he had ever met. “She doesn’t even have to know you and she’ll do anything for you,” Carr said in an interview with NBC News on Friday.
Beckstrom loved exploring the outdoors, Carr said. In photos shared with NBC News, Beckstrom can be seen hunting deer, roasting marshmallows over a backyard fire and posing happily with Carr’s brother’s dog, a Dutch shepherd named Major.
Beckstrom enlisted in the West Virginia National Guard on June 26, 2023. She was assigned to 863rd Military Police Company and deployed to D.C. in August, when Trump ordered troops to the capital as part of a federal operation known as the “D.C. Safe and Beautiful Mission.”
Carr said Beckstrom initially did not want to go to the capital because she was concerned about feeling lonely away from home. “She hated it. She cried about it,” he said. But with time, she came to enjoy the deployment and bonded with other troops. Her military colleagues nicknamed her “Becky,” he said.
In her spare time, he said, she visited monuments and museums, taking pictures and soaking up D.C.’s history. She was especially interested in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, he said.
She had the option to return to West Virginia sooner, he added, but she chose to remain in the district.
Beckstrom’s service was praised by federal and state officials after Trump announced she had died of her wounds.
“Sarah served with courage, extraordinary resolve, and an unwavering sense of duty to her state and to her nation. She answered the call to serve, stepped forward willingly, and carried out her mission with the strength and character that define the very best of the West Virginia National Guard,” West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in a post on X.
Col. Larry Doane, the commander of the joint task force in the D.C. National Guard, hailed Beckstrom as a “hero” and mourned the “devastating loss” for the Guard.
Gary Beckstrom, her father, posted a brief message on Facebook, saying in part: “My baby girl has passed to glory.”
In a Thanksgiving Day phone interview with The New York Times, Beckstrom’s father said he was holding her hand. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery,” he said.
Beckstrom’s death sent waves of grief through Summersville, a West Virginia city of just under 3,500 that sits along U.S. Route 19. Carr’s mother, Eva, said Beckstrom was “like a daughter” to her and spent a lot of time at her home.
“She was the sweetest girl. She was hard not to love. You loved her the minute you met her,” Eva Carr told NBC News, fighting back tears.
In the months leading up to the D.C. deployment, Beckstrom worked for a community health center that serves people with mental illness and substance abuse disorders, Eva Carr said.
Seneca Health Services CEO Marcie Vaughan confirmed in an interview that Beckstrom started working for the center in January.
“The fact that she chose both to enlist in the National Guard and to work at a community behavioral health center is testament to her passion for helping others,” Vaughan said.
Beckstrom’s empathy was one of her defining traits, Eva Carr said, adding that the young woman had “a heart of gold” and treated strangers with respect. The senselessness of her death has left loved ones shaken.
“I’ve cried myself to sleep last few nights,” Eva Carr said.
