National Guard shooting suspect worked with CIA in Afghanistan, drove across US for attack

2 hours ago 1

Washington: The man suspected of shooting two National Guard members two blocks from the White House drove across the continental United States with a plan to commit his crime, officials say, as they begin a global investigation into what they are calling a terrorist act.

The suspect, 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, came to the US in 2021 as part of Operation Allies Welcome, a program to resettle vulnerable Afghans who assisted the US during its two-decade presence in the country after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Central Intelligence Agency director John Ratcliffe told Fox News that Lakanwal worked with the US government, including the CIA, as a member of a partner force in the southern Afghanistan province of Kandahar, ending shortly before the final US evacuation in August 2021.

Multiple US media outlets including Reuters and CNN reported Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and that it was granted in April, citing administration officials.

This photo provided by US Attorney’s Office shows Rahmanullah Lakanwal on Thursday, November 27, 2025.

Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said Lakanwal drove to Washington DC from the state of Washington – on the other side of the country – “with the intended target of coming to our nation’s capital”.

She described the assault as a brazen and targeted attack on National Guard troops. “A lone gunman opened fire without provocation, ambush style, armed with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver,” she said.

The accused fired at one guard, who fell to the ground, then leaned over and shot the guard again, Pirro alleged. He then shot the other guard “several times” before being shot and subdued by other nearby guards.

Pirro identified the two guards as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, from the West Virginia National Guard. Both remained in critical condition on Thursday (Friday AEDT), she said.

At present, the suspect stands to be charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, carrying a maximum jail sentence of 15 years. That would be upgraded to first degree murder if either of the victims died, Pirro said.

She said the suspect’s motive was not yet clear. “There are areas we are looking into but not ready to say.”

Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe and Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, the National Guard troops gunned down in Washington DC.

FBI director Kash Patel said the agency was leading a broad-based international terrorism investigation that would probe the suspect’s associates in the US and overseas.

They have executed multiple search warrants, including a search of the suspect’s home in Bellingham, a small city in the north-west corner of the country, in Washington state. Pirro said Lakanwal lived with his wife and what they believed to be five children.

The horrific crime, which took place in central Washington at 2.15pm on Tuesday (6.15am Wednesday AEDT), has quickly prompted a backlash against the Biden administration’s intake of about 190,000 Afghans under Operation Allies Welcome and its successor program, Enduring Welcome.

Pirro called it an “absurd” process. “This is what happens in this country when people are allowed in who are not properly vetted,” she said.

Vice President JD Vance, who raised concerns about the resettlement of un-vetted Afghans in 2021, said friends had accused him of racism at the time. “It was a clarifying moment,” he said. “They shouldn’t have been in our country.”

US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it had immediately stopped processing all requests related to Afghan nationals pending further review of security and vetting protocols.

President Donald Trump earlier ordered an additional 500 National Guard troops to the streets of Washington, and announced a review of all Afghans who arrived under the previous administration.

“We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country,” he said.

Flowers left at the scene in downtown Washington where two National Guard soldiers were shot.

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