US President Donald Trump said that one of the two National Guard members who were shot in Washington DC on Wednesday has died.
President Trump said Thursday that 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom died of her injuries.
The second member of the National Guard who was shot is 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe. Officials said Thursday morning that his condition remained critical.
Both were shot at close range near Farragut Square in downtown just after 14:00 EST (19:00 GMT) on Wednesday. Police arrested a suspect in the shooting, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, of Afghanistan.
President Trump confirmed Ms Beckstrom’s death in a Thanksgiving call with US service members on Thursday evening.
“Sarah Beckstrom from West Virginia, one of the guards we’re talking about, extremely well-respected, young, wonderful human being… she has just passed away. She is no longer with us,” he said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News after the shooting that Ms. Beckstrom had volunteered to work in the nation’s capital during the Thanksgiving holiday.
The two troopers were on high-visibility patrol near the corner of 17th and 1st Streets, an area where many office workers hang out during their lunch hours.
The location of the shooting, just a short distance from the White House, meant that multiple law enforcement officers were immediately on the scene to both treat the victims and apprehend the gunman.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News, the BBC’s US news partner, that the suspect was shot four times during his capture.
Officials said Mr. Lakanwal came to the United States in 2021.
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