D.C. National Guard Ambush: Shot Staff Sergeant 'Slowly Healing'
What to know
• West Virginia National Guard member Andrew Wolfe is slowly healing from a head wound suffered in a Nov. 26 ambush shooting in Washington, D.C., an attack that also killed fellow guard member Sarah Beckstrom.
• The accused shooter was arrested after the attack and has pleaded not guilty to charges, and investigators have not identified a clear motive in the shooting.
• Wolfe remains in acute care as officials and community members continue offering support, while federal authorities review immigration processes linked to the suspect’s entry into the U.S.
A nearby National Guard member said Wolfe went down first, according to a police report filed in court on Tuesday. The alleged assailant, 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, then fired off another shot while screaming out, “Allahu Akbar,” an Arabic phrase meaning “God is great,” the documents said.
At that point, he tried to reload his weapon, giving officers the opportunity to detain him. Police said Lakanwal was also shot before he was arrested and hospitalized.
Beckstrom died the day after the shooting, on Thanksgiving. The Army specialist was 20 years old.
Wolfe was meanwhile left in critical condition in wake of the deadly gunfire. Trump at the time said he was in “very bad shape,” while Morrisey last weekend said Wolfe was still “fighting for his life.”
Lakanwal has since been charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and one count of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.
On Tuesday, he made a virtual court appearance from his hospital bed, during which he pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. He was ordered to be held without bond and is due back in court on Jan. 14.
A motive for the shooting remains under investigation. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Lakanwal “could have been radicalized” in the United States, but has so far released no evidence that he has ties to a terrorist organization.
According to authorities, Lakanwal entered the U.S. in September 2021 through the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome initiative, a program that evacuated and resettled Afghan allies who worked with the U.S. during the 20-year war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Lakanwal worked alongside the CIA in so-called “Zero Units,” groups of Afghan commandos who carried out missions planned by the agency and played a key role in the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country.
In the last four years, he’d been living in Bellingham, Wash, with his wife and five kids. He applied for asylum during the Biden administration, but it was granted this year under Trump.
In the days since the shooting, the Trump administration has put a halt on all asylum and citizenship decisions for applicants from 19 countries deemed “high risk,” and launched a “reexamination of every Green Card” granted to people from those same countries, seizing on the tragedy to aggressively escalate its crackdown on immigration.
With News Wire Services
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