The suspect who opened hearth on two Nationwide Guard troopers simply blocks from the White Home is an Afghan nationwide who labored with a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan, in line with officers.
He labored with “the US authorities, together with CIA, as a member of a associate drive in Kandahar” throughout the US-led struggle within the nation, CIA director John Ratcliffe has mentioned.
The suspect, who has been pictured for the primary time, was wounded in an trade of gunfire before he was arrested.
He was recognized by the Division of Homeland Safety as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal. Pic: Reuters
Lawyer basic Pam Bondi mentioned the US authorities plans to carry terrorism fees in opposition to the gunman and search a sentence of life in jail “at a minimal”.
“A lone gunman opened hearth with out provocation, ambush model, armed with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver,” she advised reporters.
US Lawyer for Washington DC Jeanine Pirro recognized the 2 wounded Guard members as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24.
She mentioned they’d been sworn in as Nationwide Guard members fewer than 24 hours earlier than the capturing.
Andrew Wolfe and Sarah Beckstrom. Pic: Reuters
Ms Pirro mentioned the suspect ambushed them whereas they have been patrolling close to the White Home. He shot one Guardsman who fell after which shot once more earlier than firing a number of occasions on the second Guardsman with the Magnum handgun.
Quite a few digital units seized from suspect’s dwelling
The suspect “drove his automobile cross-country from the state of Washington with the meant goal of coming to our nation’s capital,” Ms Pirro mentioned.
The FBI searched a number of properties in Washington state and San Diego on Thursday in what officers mentioned was a terrorism probe into the DC capturing.
Investigators seized quite a few digital units from the suspect’s home in Washington state, together with cellphones, laptops, and iPads, FBI director Kash Patel advised a information convention.
Based on the Division of Homeland Safety, Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 beneath Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program to resettle Afghans who assisted the US throughout the struggle and feared reprisals from the Taliban after the withdrawal.
An unnamed relative of the suspect has mentioned that Lakanwal served within the Afghan military for 10 years alongside US Particular Forces troops and was stationed in Kandahar for a part of that point.
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The relative additionally mentioned Lakanwal was working for on-line retail large Amazon.com the final time they spoke a number of months in the past, in line with Sky’s US associate NBC Information.
A Trump administration official who spoke on situation of anonymity has mentioned that Lakanwal utilized for asylum in December 2024 and was permitted on 23 April of this yr.
Lakanwal had no recognized prison historical past, the official mentioned.
US President Donald Trump, who was at his resort in Florida on the time of the assault, launched a prerecorded video assertion late on Wednesday calling the capturing “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror”.
Trump has referred to as for each Afghan nationwide who entered the US beneath Biden to be investigated following the capturing of two Nationwide Guard troops.
He mentioned his administration would “re-examine” all Afghans who arrived within the US throughout the presidency of his predecessor, Joe Biden.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Providers company has mentioned it has halted processing of all immigration requests referring to Afghan nationals indefinitely, “pending additional evaluation of safety and vetting protocols”.
Within the wake of Wednesday’s capturing, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned the president requested a further 500 Nationwide Guard troops to bolster the greater than 2,000 already deployed within the nation’s capital.
In August, Trump ordered the Nationwide Guard to town to fight rising crime, a transfer that drew objections from District of Columbia officers who argued in courtroom that it violated native authority.
